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Comcast, Sky shuffle some top executives as part of integrating the European pay-TV operator

Comcast Corp. is seeking synergies with Sky, which it acquired for $40 billion in 2018.

Stirling Fraser is a top executive at the Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia's newest skyscraper that opened in 2018. He is heading to Sky.
Stirling Fraser is a top executive at the Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia's newest skyscraper that opened in 2018. He is heading to Sky.Read moreDAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

Comcast Corp. tech executive Fraser Stirling, a native of Scotland, will relocate to the U.K. as Comcast seeks synergies with its $40 billion deal for European pay-TV operator Sky. Other moves between Comcast and Sky include two Sky executives who relocated to the United States to work on the company’s streaming service that will be launched in 2020, NBCUniversal head Steve Burke has said.

An NBCUniversal spokeswoman on Friday declined to identify the two executives who served on Sky’s Now TV streaming service.

Comcast acquired Sky — which has 24 million customers across Europe — in late 2018 after bidding against the Walt Disney Co. Sky is expected to take Comcast, mostly a U.S. cable-TV and internet company that also owns NBCUniversal, to global markets. Sky is based in the London’s Osterley neighborhood.

A Comcast spokesman confirmed Stirling’s new position at Sky as group chief product officer, reporting to Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch and Comcast’s Tony Werner at the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, Fraser, 38, has responsibility over set-top boxes, routers, gateways and the software underpinning Comcast’s X1 platform.

“This is an exciting time for both Comcast and Sky as we leverage the amazing engineering talent at both companies to deliver products that customers around the world love," Werner said on Friday. "We’re fortunate to have such a deep bench of technology talent that can deliver innovations at scale across our companies.”

Over time, Comcast and Sky are expected to more closely align their operations. The biggest project between the two companies -- or at least the one most closely watched — will be the new streaming service, which has not been branded.

“In about a year, we plan to enter in this unique way,” Burke said on April 25 about the Comcast/Sky streaming service, which has not yet been branded. “We see a lot of people entering and we think there will be plenty of room for multiple companies and different strategies to make money,” he said.

Burke said the streaming service could “empower the company for decades to come.”