The forthcoming sports streaming service from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery has named Pete Distad as its chief executive officer.
The yet-to-be-named streaming service was announced last month as part of a newly formed joint venture between the three media companies and is expected to launch this fall.
Its new CEO is a media veteran, most recently having spent a decade at Apple where he led its video and sports business and operations teams globally. At Apple, Distad was responsible for growing the tech giant’s video business, including Apple TV+ and sports such as MLS Season Pass and MLB Friday Night Baseball. Prior to that, Distad spent nearly six years at Hulu, where he served as SVP of marketing and distribution and was part of the original Hulu launch team, including responsibility for subscriber acquisition and retention.
In his new role Distad will oversee of all aspects of the joint venture, including overall strategy, distribution, marketing and sales.
The forthcoming direct-to-consumer sports streaming app plans to combine Fox, Disney and WBD sports assets including portfolios of linear networks – including ESPN, ESPN2, ESNPU, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, TruTV, and others, as well as certain DTC sports services, namely ESPN+ - with live events that span major pro sports leagues and college sports. NBCUniversal and Paramount are notably not part of the JV at this point. Formation of the service is still subject to the parties negotiating definitive agreements.
“This is an incredible opportunity to build and grow a differentiated product that will serve passionate sports fans in the US outside of the traditional pay TV bundle,” Distad said in a statement. “I’m excited to be able to pull together the industry-leading sports content portfolios from these three companies to deliver a new best-in-class service.”
Details on pricing for the service hasn’t yet been announced, although Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch recently indicated it could be in the higher range of estimates, some of which have suggested a $50 price tag. The companies have said subscribers will be able to bundle the product with respective SVOD services, including Disney+, Hulu and/or Max.
“Pete is an accomplished innovator and leader who has extensive experience with launching and growing new video services. We are confident he and his team will build an extremely compelling, fan-focused product for our target market,” said ESPN, Fox and WBD in a joint statement.
Distad will report to the JV’s board of directors, which will include representatives chosen by each of the three media companies.
Speaking at an investor conference earlier this month Fox’s Murdoch emphasized that the DTC sports streaming service is targeting consumers outside of the traditional pay TV bundle and said Fox built plans around estimates that the app will amass 5 million subscribers within five years.
However, the sports streaming effort has been met with some pushback – namely from sports-focused virtual MVPD Fubo, with some analysts suggesting the JV app could pose a threat to Fubo’s competitive advantage. Fubo filed an antitrust lawsuit against the media companies involved in the JV, claiming a years-long campaign of anticompetitive practices and likening the parties to a “sports cartel.” On Fubo’s most recent earnings call CEO David Gandler categorized the JV’s plans to launch a sports streaming app as an “attempt to monopolize the sports streaming industry and eliminate competition.”