Sturgeon had been acting CFO since October 2013 following the departure the former CFO when CME was going through a management shake-up when Time Warner increased its stake in the company.

In a joint statement Michael Del Nin and Christoph Mainusch, co-CEO’s of CME, said: "We are pleased to finalize this key appointment in the management team. The depth of Dave's knowledge of the Company and its operations has been instrumental to our progress in improving the efficiency of our businesses. We will leverage his extensive experience in the media industry as we focus on our core broadcast assets and continue strengthening our leading brands in each country in which we operate."

Sturgeon joined CME in 2005.

Despite recent efforts to build investor confidence, CME stock, trading on NASDAQ as CETV, hovers near its five year low, falling to 2.65 USD at the beginning of the trading day.