Annette Sharp: CEO Scott Lorson leaves Fetch TV as news of office romance goes public

Fetch TV CEO Scott Lorson’s departure from the subscription television platform coincides with the revelation that he had begun a relationship with one of his direct reports.

Fetch TV CEO Scott Lorson’s departure from the subscription television platform coincides with the revelation that he had begun a relationship with one of his direct reports.

On June 12, Fetch TV chairman Kim Krogh Anderson announced Lorson would be leaving the company after almost 15 “outstanding” years at the helm.

Andersen farewelled Lorson with a fond and generous statement to the market.

“Scott has done an outstanding job building Fetch into the thriving business that it is today,” the Fetch TV chairman said.

“I’ve enjoyed working with him and want to thank him for the fantastic job he’s done leading the team, particularly over the past two years, as we added Telstra as a channel for Fetch and migrated Telstra TV customers to the platform.”

Industry insiders claim, however, it was Telstra’s acquisition of a 51 per cent shareholding in Fetch in 2022, at a cost of $50m, that may have ultimately hastened Lorson’s departure from the ASX100 company.

Lorson refused to comment when the claims about a consensual relationship with Fetch’s marketing director Sue Brenchley were put to him on Friday, and reacted by retaining a lawyer.

Scott Lorson at the Fetch TV offices in North Sydney. Picture: James Croucher

Sources for Lorson said he informed the Fetch board of his plans to quit the company nine months ago, and The Sunday Telegraph does not suggest Lorson was forced to leave as a result of a relationship with Brenchley.

He will remain on the books as a consultant to new CEO Dominic Arena until January.

Fetch TV marketing director Sue Brenchley.

When the question was put to Brenchley concerning the couple’s relationship, she would neither confirm nor deny being in a relationship with Lorson, who remains her boss until this coming Friday, June 28.

Brenchley, who joined Fetch the year after Lorson, in 2010, said any suggestion Lorson was leaving his position at the insistence of the company board was “categorically untrue”.

A Telstra spokesman refused to comment on Lorson and Brenchley’s relationship.

This column understands Lorson separated from his wife Georgette two years ago, before the relationship with Brenchley began.

The couple listed their Mosman home for sale in July 2023 for $7.5m, with real estate agents at the time telling News Corp property writer Stephen Nicholls the couple planned to downsize.

Lorson has been much sought after for his business acumen since making Australia his home in the late nineties, when the American was tapped as marketing director for financial services operator GE Money Bank.

By 2001 he had moved to Optus in the same role, and in 2005 he was promoted to managing director of Optus’s small and medium business division.

He spent a year at Ticketek as CEO in 2006 before jumping ship to ACP Magazines in 2007 as CEO of that company.

The role lasted 19 months.

At ACP he was dubbed “Mr Shiny Tap Shoes” by editorial staff, who noted the importance he placed on his personal appearance.

Following a nine-month corporate spell, Lorson was appointed CEO of Fetch in September 2009.

In 2020 he was considered a strong contender for Nine Network CEO Hugh Marks’ role, as reported in these pages at the time here.

Brenchley is a divorcee with her own children who relocated from the Southern Highlands to Sydney following the breakdown of her marriage.

Sources for Lorson say following his departure from Fetch he plans to travel and spend more time in America visiting family there.

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