Wazoo Sports Hires New President and CEO

 LONDON – Wazoo Sports, a regional and national sports production company based in London, Kentucky, has named Matt Cacciato as its new president and CEO.

Cacciato previously served in senior sales positions at ESPN, Disney, the YES Network (the Yankees Sports Network), Turner Media Group and Fox Cable Networks.

He also is the founder and president of American Education Television Network, LLC, a cable network dedicated to delivering news, information and entertainment programming from the education industry.

“In this digital age, content is king,” Cacciato said. “There is tremendous growth potential for Wazoo because we have the production teams in place to provide high-quality programming at an economical cost.”

Production needs are rising as college athletic conferences launch their own networks and turn to outside contractors to fill the air time. Cacciato will work his national connections to market Wazoo’s turn-key production services.

It already is producing some SEC sports, such as women’s soccer and lacrosse, and has entered into a new production agreement with Comcast Hometown Network in the San Francisco Bay area, which establishes Wazoo in one of Comcast’s largest markets.

Wazoo has secured other new production agreements for SEC live event coverage for FoxSports South. The company also has discussions under way with Time Warner Sports and ESPN, which will be the managing partner for the new SEC network that is scheduled to launch in 2014. ESPN will be producing more than 1,000 events per year for the channel and will be awarding a large number of production contracts. ESPN3 also has significant production opportunities for its web-based services.

Wazoo also will continue to focus on high school sports as well as NAIA and Ohio Valley Conference games.

Cacciato will be working closely with Doc Carpenter, the founder of Wazoo who now serves as vice president and chief operating officer. The two are guiding the company through a transition from an online network to a sports production company.

“The company is well-positioned to tap into the growing demand and become one of the substantial sports producers in the United States,” said L. Ray Moncrief, who is co-manager of Meritus Ventures, a venture capital fund that is a principle investor in Wazoo. In his role with Meritus, Moncrief also serves on the board of Wazoo.

About Meritus Ventures:

Meritus Ventures, L.P. is a $36.4 million venture capital fund formed to make equity investments in private, expansion-stage companies in predominantly rural areas in central and southern Appalachia.

Media Contact:  Melissa Muendel, muendel@meritusventures.com, 865-220-1715