Thomas Mockridge (born July 1955 in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) was the chief executive of

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

until June 2019.

Career

Mockridge began his career in his native New Zealand; starting in 1977 as a reporter for the

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

-based

Taranaki Daily News The ''Taranaki Daily News'' is a daily morning newspaper published in New Plymouth, New Zealand. History The paper was founded as the ''Taranaki News'' on 14 May 1857, by friends of former Taranaki Province Superintendent Charles Brown.J.S. Tu ...

in the small central North Island town of

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of ...

. He moved to Australia in 1980, working first for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' as economics correspondent, then as an adviser for the Australian Treasurer

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

. He also worked for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

''. He joined

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...

in January 1991, where he was assistant CEO to Ken Cowley until 1996. He then became CEO of

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

, a post which he held for three years. Mockridge then moved to Hong Kong. Appointed managing director of Independent Newspapers in 2001, New Zealand's largest newspaper publisher and a subsidiary of

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

, he was also appointed Chairman of pay TV group

Sky New Zealand Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel pro ...

. In 2002, Mockridge led the merger between

Stream TV Stream TV was an Italian digital satellite television pay TV company launched in 1993 and closed in 2003, due to the merge with TELE+ into Sky Italia. History Stream S.P.A. was the service provider, a television company owned by STET. It wa ...

and Tele+, which resulted in the creation of

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agree ...

. On completion of the merger, he was appointed CEO of Sky Italia. In 2008 Mockridge was appointed Managing Director of European Television (all News Corps TV assets outside the UK), reporting to

James Murdoch James Rupert Jacob Murdoch (born 13 December 1972) is a British-American businessman, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and was the chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019. He was the chairman and CEO fo ...

. He was later appointed to the board of

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

, a position he still holds. He was head of Sky Italia when he replaced

Rebekah Brooks Rebekah Mary Brooks (; born 27 May 1968) is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor in chief, editor. She has been chief executive officer of News UK since 2015. She was previously CEO of News UK, News International ...

as chief executive of

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...

after she had resigned on 15 July 2011. He was resident in Italy. On 17 January 2012 he appeared before the

Leveson Inquiry The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of ...

into media ethics. He eventually backed Lord Justice Brian Leveson's recommendation that the UK set up a regulatory system for reining in the British media's worst excesses. In December 2012 he resigned from his position as head of Murdoch's UK newspapers, having been passed over as for the new chief executive position.

Virgin Media

In June 2013 he took up the post of chief executive of

, following the completion of the takeover by

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

leaving in 2019 to be replaced by Lutz Schuler.

Personal life

His wife is an Italian citizen. They have two children.

References

External links

Virgin Media

Profile
at ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' * 1955 births Living people New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand journalists News Corporation People associated with the News International phone hacking scandal Virgin Media {{NewZealand-writer-stub