Tony Petitti is the former president of sports and entertainment of
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi ...
.
He was formerly the
chief operating officer
A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...
of
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
. He succeeded
Rob Manfred
Robert Dean Manfred Jr. (born September 28, 1958) is an American lawyer and business executive who is serving as the tenth Commissioner of Baseball, commissioner of Major League Baseball. He previously served as MLB's chief operating officer. Man ...
in the position on January 25, 2015, after Manfred became Commissioner of Baseball. He previously served as the president and chief executive officer of the
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
, where he oversaw all of the network's day-to-day operations.
Career
Petitti attended
Haverford College
Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
, where he majored in economics before attending
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
. He worked for two years at the law firm of
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP (known as Cadwalader) is a white-shoe law firm, and is New York City's oldest law firm and one of the oldest continuously operating legal practices in the United States. Attorney John Wells founded the practice ...
before joining
ABC Sports
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
in 1988 as general attorney. After being named vice president of programming, where he was responsible for acquiring and scheduling ABC Sports programming, he was hired by
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
in 1997 as senior vice president of business affairs and programming. In December 2005, Pettiti was named executive vice president, CBS Sports and is "responsible for all day-to-day operations of CBS Sports, " where he was largely responsible for the network's
NFL coverage. "Basically, I’m responsible for everything you see on Sunday."
It was announced on January 3, 2008, that Petitti would be placed in charge of day-to-day operations of
CSTV
CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...
, the college sports network that was absorbed into CBS sports, effectively replacing network co-founder
Brian Bedol, who had been serving as president of CSTV since the network was purchased by
CBS Corporation
The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and t ...
in 2005. CSTV was renamed the CBS College Sports Network on March 16, 2008, and eventually evolved to become
CBS Sports Network
CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...
.
In April 2008 Pettiti left
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
to become the head of
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
, which launched in January 2009.
Tony Petitti named President & CEO of MLB Network
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petitti, Tony
American television executives
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
American lawyers
Harvard Law School alumni
American Broadcasting Company executives
CBS executives
American chief operating officers
Haverford College alumni
Major League Baseball executives
People associated with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
He currently works for Activison Blizzard As of 2021 in the Sports and Entertainment Sector.