Sky TV recruits international talent Martin Stewart to take over from John Fellet

Sky TV's new chief executive Martin Stewart. Photo / Supplied.

Sky TV has finally named the successor to long-time chief executive John Fellet - although Fellet will be looking over the newcomer's shoulder as he controversially stays on as a director.

More: The 5 biggest headaches for Sky TV's new boss, Martin Stewart

The broadcaster's new CEO is UK-born Martin Stewart, who will shift over from his current role as chief executive of OSN, the leading pay TV network in the Middle East.

He was also chief financial officer at BSkyB in the UK between 1998 and 2004 when the media firm doubled its subscriber base.

And in 2009 to 2010 he led the successful turnaround of Ono, a leading telecom operator in Spain, which is now part of Vodafone.

Stewart's sports credentials include being CFO of the Football Association (FA) for a six-month stint in 2016, serving on the Board of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games for seven years and playing a key role in successful Premier League and UEFA broadcast renewals on behalf of Sky UK.

In his OSN and Sky UK roles, Stewart tracks the career of UK-based ex-pat Mike Darcey, who was appointed to Sky's board in September 2017.

Sky TV has yet to name a replacement for a second high-profile departure, long-serving chairman Peter Macourt.

Sky TV's shares have tumbled from $6.92 to Friday's close of $2.30 amid new competiton from streaming services for viewers and sports rights, a rise in piracy and the blocked Vodafone merger.

Fellet will remain as a director - a development that has been criticised by the NZ Shareholders Association, whose chairman John Hawkins earlier said, "the difficulty with an immediate appointment or continuation is that the ex-CEO will carry too much influence and may inhibit necessary change being made – particularly if it casts his or her tenure in a poor light and seeks to change or reverse earlier strategies and policies."

The first challenges for Stewart will be to plug subscriber losses, halt Spark raids on key content, fight surging piracy, and to launch Sky TV's new set-top box, which is due in the first quarter of next year - an Apple TV unit that will deliver content through broadband only and feature a Netflix app.

Stewart starts on February 21.

He will be paid a base salary of $1.5 million with short- and long-term incentives of an additional 50 per cent at the board's discretion. He will receive 200,000 shares for no consideration on the first four anniversaries of employment.

That compares to long-serving CEO John Fellet's $1.4 million base salary. Including incentives, Fellet's pay was $1.98 million in the year ended June.