Media and broadcast transformation experts, United Kingdom

Transformation that
actually lands

I lead media operations and technology transformation for broadcasters, rightsholders and production businesses, from the first honest diagnosis through to go-live and handover. Senior, hands-on, and accountable for the outcome rather than the deck.

Start a conversation See what I do

Or email darren.long@sasolo.uk

Gallery operator at a broadcast control desk in front of a wall of monitors

Where I work

Across the whole broadcast chain

  • Broadcast operationsMCR, galleries and round-the-clock transmission.
  • Live sportLive output where there is no second take.
  • Content supply chainMedia, metadata and rights, from acquisition to delivery.
  • Playout and distributionChannels, platforms and the chain that feeds them.
  • Cloud and IP migrationMoving facilities off legacy infrastructure, on air.
  • Post and craftEdit, grade, audio and finishing workflows.
  • M&A due diligenceAn independent technical and operational read on a deal.

When clients call

Call me when…

Five moments where senior, hands-on experience changes the outcome.

  1. A deal has closed and nobody owns the integration

    Two technology estates, two operating models, and one set of synergy numbers already promised to the market.

  2. A migration has to happen on air

    Playout, distribution or post moving to cloud, IP or a new supplier, with no acceptable downtime and a hard contractual date.

  3. The cost line has to come down without breaking output

    A target has landed from the board, and the easy savings went two budget rounds ago.

  4. A programme is amber and nobody will say why

    An independent read of scope, plan, vendor performance and capability, and the intervention that recovers it.

  5. You are buying, and need to know what you are buying

    Technical and operational due diligence on a media asset, plus the integration cost the seller has not mentioned.

  6. Something else?

    If none of these is you, I will say so on the first call.

    Start a conversation

Independent broadcast and media consultancy

Decades inside the machine, not adjacent to it

Most transformation programmes fail on the floor, not on the slide. Sasolo Media is built on hands-on leadership of large-scale change across broadcast, sport and content production: the operational detail, the vendor reality and the people who have to live with the result.

You get me, senior and hands-on, on every engagement. When the work needs more capacity, I bring in trusted associates with years of experience in business process design, programme management and project management. You get the resource the job needs, without a pyramid of juniors.

Broadcast camera operator covering a live football match under floodlights
Live sportOutside broadcasts and studio output, where there is no second take.
Vision mixer operator at a broadcast gallery desk
Galleries and MCRControl rooms, master control and the people who run them.
Fibre patch panel in a broadcast data centre
Cloud and IPMoving facilities off legacy infrastructure, while staying on air.

Broadcast transformation track record

Thirty years of keeping it on air

30+

Years running broadcast, production and content operations.

760

Full-time staff led across Sky Production Services.

3

Markets in Sky’s group content supply chain: the UK, Italy and Germany.

150+

Major sporting games a year.

Experience across
  • SkyBroadcaster
  • Sky SportsSport
  • Sky NewsNews
  • Warner Bros. DiscoveryMedia group
  • TNT SportsSport
  • ITVBroadcaster
  • Channel 4Broadcaster
  • BFBSForces broadcaster

Media transformation consulting services

Four ways in

Discuss an engagement
01

Media transformation programmes

Medium to large broadcast change, led end to end.

Full programme leadership for the transformations that reshape how a media business runs: new facilities, consolidated operations, cloud and IP migration, playout and distribution change. I own the plan, the vendors and the outcome, and I stay until it is live and stable.

How it works

Typical output

  • Programme plan, RAID and governance
  • Vendor selection and contract support
  • Migration and cutover strategy
  • Go-live and BAU handover
02

Workflow analysis and review

End-to-end review of how content actually moves.

A forensic look at the content supply chain from acquisition to delivery: where effort is duplicated, where cost hides, and where quality and compliance risk sits. Findings are specific, attributable and costed, so you can act on them in a quarter rather than a strategy cycle.

How it works

Typical output

  • Current-state workflow map
  • Prioritised findings with cost impact
  • Target workflow design
  • Quick-win backlog
03

Operating model and consulting

Strategy, structure and technology choices you can defend.

Advisory for leadership teams making irreversible decisions: how to structure operations, what to build or buy, where to invest and what the technology roadmap should be. Grounded in what those choices really cost to run once the press release is out.

How it works

Typical output

  • Target operating model
  • Costed technology roadmap
  • Investment business case
  • Board-ready recommendation
04

Due diligence and deal support

Deep dives on media acquisitions and investments.

Technical and operational due diligence for acquirers and investors in the media sector: what the asset really is, what state its technology and workflows are in, what integration will cost, and where the value or the liability sits.

How it works

Typical output

  • Operational and technical assessment
  • Integration cost and risk view
  • Red-flag register
  • Post-deal plan

Areas of expertise

Media transformation experts tend to be either strategists who have never run a gallery, or engineers who have never had to make the business case. I have done both, across broadcast, sport, news and streaming. These are the areas clients bring me in for most often.

  • Broadcast transformation
  • Media transformation
  • Digital transformation for media
  • Broadcast consultancy
  • Media consultancy
  • Programme director
  • Interim transformation director
  • Programme recovery
  • Broadcast facility design and build
  • Gallery and MCR builds
  • Playout migration
  • Distribution and delivery
  • Cloud and IP migration
  • SMPTE ST 2110 and IP production
  • Remote and REMI production
  • Live sport broadcasting
  • News operations
  • Streaming, OTT and VOD
  • Content supply chain
  • Media asset management
  • Metadata and rights
  • Access services
  • Post-production workflows
  • Media workflow automation
  • AI in media operations
  • Target operating models
  • Broadcast technology strategy
  • Vendor selection and procurement
  • Supplier transition
  • Cost reduction and efficiency
  • Merger integration
  • Technical due diligence
  • Media M&A and private equity
  • Change management
  • Business process design

Selected broadcast and media projects

Done it, not studied it

Warner Bros. Discovery2022–2024

Launching TNT Sports from BT Sport and Eurosport

Led the technical development and workflow operations for the new joint venture, from facility design and contracts to the operating structure the teams moved into.

Read the case study
  • New production facility built at Stockley Park
  • MCR, ingest and edit commissioned at Chiswick Park
  • BT Sport Studios at Olympic Park closed while BT Sport stayed on air
ITV2025–2026

Content Supply Simplification

Programme Director for a capability-led transformation of ITV’s content supply chain, run from the Transformation Management Office across every division from production to distribution.

Read the case study
  • Operational and technology change led end to end
  • Processes and ways of working redesigned
  • Alignment held across all ITV divisions
Sky Group2019–2022

A group content supply chain and operating model

Set the strategy for a next-generation content supply chain across Sky UK, Sky Italia, Sky Deutschland and NOW, then designed the group operating model for content operations.

Read the case study
  • 200 content operations staff and multi-million-pound budgets
  • Group structure set across the UK, Italy and Germany
  • In-source versus outsource model evaluated and built
Sky2012–2021

Sky Production Services and the Sky News move

Director of a 760-strong department spanning studios, post-production, content services and client services, and a senior member of the Sky News technical transformation team.

Read the case study
  • Every department reorganised under a new structure
  • Sky News moved to a new building and infrastructure
  • Lights-out content processing for Sky Go and NOW

How I run transformation programmes

A method that survives contact with the building

Step 1 of 4 · Diagnose

Look properly

An end-to-end review of the workflow as it actually runs, not as it is documented. Cost, risk and friction mapped where they occur.

What you get

  • Current-state workflow map
  • Cost, risk and friction located
  • Where process and technology pull against each other
  • A straight view on what is worth doing

About your media transformation consultant

Darren Long

Managing Director and Principal Consultant

Darren Long, founder of Sasolo Media Consulting

I have spent my career leading media operations and technology change from the inside, across broadcast, live sport and content supply chains. Large programmes, real deadlines, real crews. Sasolo Media is how I bring that to other organisations.

The work spans strategy through delivery: operating models, facility and infrastructure design, cloud and IP migration, vendor selection, and the due diligence behind media acquisitions.

  • 2026–
    Sasolo Media Consulting · Managing Director and Principal Consultant
  • 2025–2026
    ITV · Programme Director, Content Supply Simplification
  • 2022–2024
    Warner Bros. Discovery · Sports Technology Integration Project Lead, TNT Sports
  • 1989–2022
    Sky · Director of Operations, Sky Sports; Director, Sky Production Services; Group Operations Transformation Director
  • 2019–
    BFBS · Board Trustee
Full career history on LinkedIn

“Sasolo Media Consulting carried out a deep dive into a media acquisition. Their review was comprehensive and clear and helped us to formulate our plans.”

Peter Watson, United Kingdom

“The insights and strategies provided by Sasolo Media Consulting were invaluable for our media projects. Their expertise truly stands out in the industry.”

Tom Blake

Media consultancy questions

What clients usually ask first

What does a media transformation consultant do?

I lead change in how a broadcaster or media business runs: its operating model, its content supply chain, its technology and the people who make it work. That covers the first honest diagnosis, the target design and roadmap, the delivery programme itself, and the handover that keeps the gains.

Which organisations do you work with?

Broadcasters, sports rightsholders, production businesses and the investors who buy them, across the UK, Europe and the Middle East. My background is more than thirty years at Sky, Sky Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery and ITV.

How are engagements structured?

Short diagnostic reviews, fixed-scope advisory, or interim programme leadership on a day rate. I lead every engagement personally, and bring in experienced associates in business process design, programme management and project management when the scale demands it.

Can you run a cloud or IP migration without coming off air?

Yes. Migration and cutover planning is the core of it: keeping output live while playout, distribution or production moves to new infrastructure. I have done it at scale, including closing BT Sport’s Olympic Park studios while BT Sport stayed on air.

Do you carry out technical due diligence on media acquisitions?

Yes. An operational and technical assessment of the asset, the real integration cost and risk, a red-flag register and a post-deal plan, so you know what you are buying before you sign.

How do we get started?

With a 30-minute call, at no charge and under NDA if you need one. Email darren.long@sasolo.uk with the problem in a paragraph and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.

Talk to a media transformation expert

Let’s talk about what needs to change

Tell me the problem in a paragraph. I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.

Email Sasolo Media Connect on LinkedIn

Or email darren.long@sasolo.uk

How I work

Short diagnostic reviews, fixed-scope advisory, or interim programme leadership on a day rate. I lead every engagement, with experienced associates in process design, programme and project management on call when the scale demands it.

Where

UK-based, working across the UK, Europe and the Middle East. On site when it matters, remote when it does not.

First step

A 30-minute call, at no charge and under NDA if you need one. You will get a straight view on scope, timescale and whether it is worth doing.

Confidentiality

Discussions stay confidential. I will work under your NDA, or my own, before anything commercially sensitive is shared.

Broadcast and media industry news

The industry, live

Deals and moves across the UK and Europe, hand-picked with my read on each. Below them, headlines straight from the trade press, refreshed through the day.

UK · Consolidation6 Jul 2026

Sky agrees £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s Media & Entertainment division

Two playout, distribution and ad estates now have to become one. The integration programme behind this will run for years and decide whether the £200m of synergies are real.

Broadband TV News UK · Playout28 Jul 2026

Channel 4 picks Encompass for cloud-native managed playout from 2027

A full origination and content supply chain move across two sites. The risk is never the playout chain; it is access services, DR proving and the cutover plan.

Advanced Television Europe · Supply side2 Jul 2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE to widen its European systems integration base

Studio, media IT and control-room capability bought rather than built. Expect buyers to be asked harder questions about integration risk on the vendor side too.

Production360

Straight from the trade press

TVBEurope, Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, TV Tech, RedShark News and Light Reading.

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