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John Wildhack is ESPN’s executive vice president, program acquisitions & strategy, a position he assumed in March 2007. As one of the two top programmers in the company, Wildhack oversees all rights negotiations and manages relationships with rightsholders for all ESPN entities – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN on ABC, ESPN International, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile Properties, print and more.
Previously, Wildhack was ESPN senior vice president, programming acquisitions & strategy (Oct. 2005 – March 2007). He held the title of ESPN senior vice president, programming from September 1994 until October 2005
From February 2000 until 2005, his primary focus was acquisitions for ESPN and ESPN2 and the development of ESPN Classic and ESPN Regional Television (ERT). Previously, he managed programming for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic.
His efforts have been integral in the increase of live and original programming on ESPN and ESPN2, close to 10,000 hours. Under his direction, the evolution of ESPN2’s programming lineup included an extensive commitment to auto racing, college football and basketball, leading to ESPN2 becoming the fastest growing network of the 1990s. Wildhack has also been directly involved in the renewal and expansion of many ESPN and ESPN2 programming agreements including NFL, MLB, PGA Tour and a variety of major college conferences.
Prior to joining programming, Wildhack had been senior vice president, remote production (July 1993-Sept. 1994), in charge of all remote production efforts.
Wildhack served as vice president, remote production (1991-93). Prior to that, he was director, event productions (1990-91). He served as coordinating producer of ESPN's Sunday Night NFL and NFL Draft telecasts in 1988-89 and produced NFL games for the network from 1987-89. In addition to the NFL, Wildhack's numerous production credits include college football, NCAA basketball, boxing, golf and auto racing.
Wildhack joined ESPN as a production assistant in 1980. He was promoted to associate producer in 1982, to senior associate producer in 1983 and to producer in 1985.
Wildhack holds the distinction of producing ESPN's first live NFL game, Chicago at Miami (August 1987), and its first live regular-season college football game, Brigham Young vs. Pittsburgh (September 1984).
A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Wildhack received a bachelor of arts degree in telecommunications in 1980 from Syracuse University.
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