Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

From Tea Boy to Chairman: Jeff Foulser on Pushing On and Never Being Satisfied

12/12/2019

From tea boy to chairman: Jeff Foulser on pushing on and never being satisfied By Heather McLean, Editor

Friday, December 6, 2019 - 13:32

Print This Story

Sunset Vine chairman Jeff Foulser chats with Fergal Ringrose during SVG Europe's SportTech 2019 event at Lord's Cricket Ground on 22 May

Sunset Vine chairman Jeff Foulser has enjoyed a long and illustrious career that began as a young whippersnapper at the age of 18 with a chance game of cricket at London Weekend Television (LWT) and is still going strong at the company he has helped grow from five people to an international sports host broadcaster.

After playing a lot of cricket as a youngster, to the point where he even considered taking it up professionally, Foulser decided instead he, probably ought to get a proper job, but I completely failed in that regard; I got into television! .

In those days there were only two places to work if you lived in London; one was LWT and the other was the BBC. I wrote to the BBC and they said come back when you've got a degree, but I wasn't keen on going to uni; I did my A-Levels and stuff but I wanted to get out into the world. I managed to get a job at LWT basically as a tea boy; I was called a junior clerk, he says.

Foulser continues: I was given my first job by Jimmy Hill who was Head of Sport at LWT then. He was a former footballer and manager of Coventry City. He was a really smart guy who, when he was still a professional footballer, was responsible for ending the minimum wage in football. He also advocated three points for a win and was instrumental in many changes to the game. He obviously must have seen something in this 18 year old that he quite liked and he gave me the job, so I owe him everything really.

Progressing up the ranks

On how he progressed up the ranks from tea boy, Foulser says, I just got my nose in where it was important, really . He goes on: It would never happen these days, but on my first day at work I was called in by a wonderful man called John Bromley, who was the executive producer for sport at LWT, and he said, ah, Jeffrey, you play a bit of cricket don't you?', so I said, yes, I do sir', so he said, right, you're playing tomorrow for World of Sport against Bagshot Cricket Club,'. So I got home that night and my mum asked, how was your first day at work?' and I said, great, I'm playing cricket tomorrow!'. She couldn't believe it. Anyway, within one day of joining, that night in the bar after the cricket I was one of the team already, and it was quite remarkable how quickly it happened from there.

Foulser began getting involved in the production side of sports broadcast, gaining experience on outside broadcasts and logging football matches for editing. I was the tea boy for about six months, he remembers. It was a fantastically vibrant sports department; a lot of really clever people, and you couldn't fail to learn. My mentors were Jimmy Hill and John Bromley, Brian Moore the commentator, who was fantastic, and a guy called Bob Gardam who was a pioneering OB director who transformed football coverage in the late 60s, early 70s, and he was terrific. He put his arm round me and showed me how it was all done, really. So I had some brilliant people to learn from.

My view is if you try and stay where you are, you go backwards and I really do believe that. You have to push on and push on and never be satisfied.

Other alumni from LWT during that period included, says Foulser, Mark Sharman who became head of Channel 4 sport, Robert Charles who became head of Channel 5 sport, Richard Worth who ran Team Marketing, Andrew Franklin who ran Channel 4 racing for many years, Tony Mills who became Sky's leading football director, as well as talented on-screen performers like Jim Rosenthal and Martin Tyler. Foulser adds: It was quite a hotbed. Looking back on it, I don't think we realised it at the time, but there were some pretty good people there!

At the tender age of 24, Foulser scored the job of producer of The Big Match, LWT's flagship football programme. He comments on taking on such a large role at such a young age: It is a little bit hard to believe. I'm not sure it would happen now; I think there's probably more competition for a start. There's a lot of really talented people around now. In those days there wasn't a lot of football on television, so it was a programme with eight million to 10 million people watching it on a regular basis. So to be in charge of that was pretty amazing. When you're young you don't think about it in the way you do when you look back.

Time to move on

England's Ben Stokes pumped up and passionate after his exhilarating innings at Headingley during 2019 Ashes series against Australia

As well as leading the football charge at LWT, Foulser produced the Seoul Olympics in 1988 for the channel. However, the time came when Foulser felt it was time to move on.

He explains why: I needed to do something different. I needed to test myself. I'd been part of this family at ITV and it was all a bit comfortable and I also didn't want to work on football solely, which in the end [at ITV] I did; I became the executive producer of ITV football and when football started to take off, ITV bought the rights to what was then the First Division, but then became the Premier League, and we had 21 live games a season and I was in charge of that. It was pretty high profile; big audiences.

I remember my last game when I knew I was leaving but I hadn't told anybody else in 89, when Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield to win the title - the last game of the season and they needed to win 2-0 and they did it with the last kick of the game - and afterwards I told Brian Moore that I was leaving, and he said, Jeff, how can you? Wh
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/from-tea-boy-to-chairman-suns...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

25/03/2026

In The Hot Seat: The Art of Directing a Premier League Match

Live match directors Sarah Cheadle (Sky Sports), Rob Levi (TNT Sports), and Andrew Swift (BBC Sport) sit down with the Premier League's Rachel Nightingale t...

25/03/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Kyle Maier, St. Bonaventure University

The senior from Upstate New York is manning the mic while also interning for the athletic department's sports-information team In the live-sports-video ind...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: Synamedia Launches Edge Watermarking Solution, Marks 10 Years of ContentArmor

Synamedia has announced ContentArmor Edge Watermarking, a server-side solution t...

25/03/2026

SES Taps K2 Space to Build meoSphere MEO Satellite Network

SES has announced meoSphere, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030. The first phase will pair SES-developed software-defin...

25/03/2026

Reuters and TVU Networks Begin Satellite-to-IP Migration for Live News Distribution

TVU Networks is working with Reuters on a phased migration from satellite to a c...

25/03/2026

Nielsen Names Three Senior Hires in Sports, Advertising, and Publishing Roles

Nielsen has announced three senior appointments. Seth Ladetsky has been named Head of Global Sports. Trevor Fellows will lead Nielsen's advertiser and agenc...

25/03/2026

Anoki and Amagi Bring Scene-Level Intelligence to In-Content CTV Ads

Anoki and Amagi have launched In-Scene Ads powered by Anoki ContextIQ across Amagi's portfolio of in-content ad formats for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: Arkona to Unveil BLADE//planner and Platform Updates

Arkona Technologies will announce a series of enhancements to its BLADE//runner platform at NAB 2026 (Booth C.1808). The updates focus on usability and workflow...

25/03/2026

San Diego Padres Partners With Daktronics to Enhance Petco Park

Daktronics has installed two tower displays and a video wall in the Lexus Club at Petco Park in San Diego ahead of the 2026 season. Continuing to improve the ...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: MultiDyne Marks 50th Anniversary

MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is celebrating its 50th anniversary as NAB Show 2026 approaches. The company was founded in 1976 by Vincent Jachetta, an N...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: IPC to Debut with One Connect Intercom Platform and New One Link Keypanels

IPC, a provider of integrated communication solutions, will make its NAB 2026 de...

25/03/2026

ESPN Tops 2026 Sports Emmy Nominations With 63 Nods

Live production categories were led by NBC, FOX, and ESPN's NFL coverage...

25/03/2026

Atlanta Braves and Spectrum Reach Multiyear Distribution Agreement for BravesVision

The Atlanta Braves and Spectrum have announced a multiyear distribution agreemen...

25/03/2026

The AI Doc Asks the Question No One Wants to Answer

(L-R) Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher attend The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre ...

25/03/2026

L3Harris, RFTEQ Sign Agreement to Advance Sovereign Electronic Warfare Capability in Australia

L3Harris Technologies and RFTEQ Pty Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to ...

25/03/2026

L3Harris to Provide Autonomous Underwater Capability for US Navy Submarines

L3Harris delivers combat-ready Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery system, which deploys and retrieves Iver4 900 autonomous underwater vehicles through submarine t...

25/03/2026

Nielsen Names New Senior Leaders Supporting Sports, Advertising and Publishing Clients

The company expands leadership team under Chief Revenue Officer Amilcar Perez S...

25/03/2026

Stable TV Viewership in Poland in February as Warner Bros. Discovery Retains Top Spot

Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremony features in top 10 programmes of the month...

25/03/2026

Mediaproxy to Show Upgrades to LogServer at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/03/2026

Hitomi transforms production synchronisation with the lau...

Providing wide view timing visibility across the entire production chain...

25/03/2026

Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026

Continuing development drives advances in security, availability, access and connectivity...

25/03/2026

Caudalie Paris HQ elevates brand experience with INFiLED...

Caudalie, the renowned French cosmetics brand, has unveiled a state-of-the-art 200-seat auditorium at its new headquarters in the historic Marais district of ce...

25/03/2026

Telestream Unlocks Adobe-Centric Media Pipeline and Strea...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced expanded integration with Adobe Premiere, Adobe Media Encoder (AME), and Frame.io, d...

25/03/2026

Marshall Electronics Showcases New Feature Rich CV320 and...

Marshall Electronics is expanding its lineup of high-performance POV cameras designed for broadcast, live production and professional AV applications with the d...

25/03/2026

OOONA Achieves TPN Gold Star Shield - the Highest Level o...

OOONA, a global provider of professional management and production tools for the media localization industry, announced today that it has been awarded the TPN G...

25/03/2026

Gray Media to Simulcast 2026 Atlanta Braves Home Opener

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/03/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: Appear

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/03/2026

Deepfakes Vulnerable to AI Fingerprint Hacks, Study Finds

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/03/2026

SipMX launches at NAB Show 2026 to democratize media orch...

SipRadius, specialists in secure, low-latency media transport, will drive innovation and interoperability still further with the launch of the SipMX Alliance at...

25/03/2026

QuickLink to Showcase StudioPro Video Production Ecosyste...

QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote contribution solutions, will showcase its award-winning StudioPro ecosystem at The 2...

25/03/2026

Alfalite returns to NAB Show alongside FOR-A showcasing L...

Alfalite, the only European manufacturer of LED screens, will once again be present at NAB Show, the leading global event for the broadcast, media and entertain...

25/03/2026

First Time Exhibitor IPC Introduces One Link Keypanels fo...

PC, a leading provider of integrated communication solutions, will make its NAB 2026 Show debut in Booth C 3341. The company will highlight the newly branded On...

25/03/2026

LTN showcases satellite-to-IP migration solutions for cha...

Open video transport network simplifies satellite transition with new partnerships and global reach as spectrum auction nears LTN will demonstrate how its purp...

25/03/2026

Leader to present full suite of advanced Test and Measure...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present the full range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix T&M solutions at the NAB Show, which takes pl...

25/03/2026

MNC Software Appoints Heartland Video Systems as North Am...

MNC Software, a global leader in network management and operational support systems tailored to the broadcast and media industry, today announced the appointmen...

25/03/2026

Samsung Launches Shoppable TV Experience with Amazon

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/03/2026

Gray Media to Simulcast 2026 Atlanta Braves to Home Opener

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/03/2026

Starfish highlights flexible TS Splicer releases and new Monitoring Dashboard at NAB Show

Starfish highlights flexible TS Splicer releases and new Monitoring Dashboard at...

25/03/2026

XLNTSOUND Elevates Video Production with Blackmagic Design

XLNTSOUND Elevates Video Production with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton March 24, 2026 0 Comments Audio company upgrades workflow with Blackmagic Cine...

25/03/2026

First Time Exhibitor IPC Introduces One Link Keypanels for One Connect Intercom Platform at NAB 2026

First Time Exhibitor IPC Introduces One Link Keypanels for One Connect Intercom ...

25/03/2026

Netflix Announces the Start of Production for 'Reasonable Doubts'

Back to All News Netflix Announces the Start of Production for Reasonable Doubts Entertainment 25 March 2026 GlobalSpain Link copied to clipboard Download...

25/03/2026

FOR-As Software-Defined, AI-Powered Development Advances with Nippon TV and NVIDIA Technology

NBC Sports Deploys viztrick AiDi to Stream Live Events in 9:16 Mobile-First Form...

25/03/2026

Blowing Off Steam: How Power-Flexible AI Factories Can Stabilize the Global Energy Grid

At the half-time whistle of the UEFA EURO 2020 round of 16 football match betwee...

24/03/2026

Utah Scientific to Showcase a Variety of Hybrid SDI/IP Innovations at the 2026 NAB Show

Utah Scientific to Showcase a Variety of Hybrid SDI/IP Innovations at the 2026 N...

24/03/2026

NAB 2026: Mediaproxy Highlights Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Show 2026

Mediaproxy will showcase an updated version of its LogPlayer interface at NAB Sh...

24/03/2026

Canada's Cgep de Jonquire and Calrec Take Five With a TV Studio Upgrade

C gep de Jonqui re, a public college in Qu bec, has upgraded its TV studio complex with five Calrec Brio consoles and a Dante IP network. The installation was c...

24/03/2026

American Association of Professional Baseball Expands Broadcast Partnerships with RYZ, Bally Sports Live, NLSE, FTF Sports, and SLVR

The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has announced new and r...

24/03/2026

Ateme KYRION Enabled NT's Nationwide Contribution Network During Southeast Asian Games 2025

National Telecom Public Company Limited (NT) used Ateme's KYRION platform fo...

24/03/2026

FDJ United Upgrades Lottery Production with Grass Valley UHD Cameras

Grass Valley has expanded its relationship with ImSoPROD, the TV production entity of FDJ United, with the deployment of LDX C98 compact cameras across its nati...