Former Showtime CEO Blank joins CuriosityStream board

Matthew Blank, former chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks, has joined the board of directors at CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service focused on factual programming.

Blank has recently served as an advisor to Showtime after spending more than 20 years as chief executive for the premium network, where he also served as president, chief operating officer and executive vice president of marketing. He previously worked at HBO for 12 years, where he served as senior vice president of consumer marketing.

“Matt was an early champion of the rich global opportunity in streaming blue-chip content to consumers both directly and with distribution partners of scale,” said Clint Stinchcomb, president and CEO of CuriosityStream, in a statement. “I couldn’t be more delighted that Matt has agreed to join our board. As we grow organically and through opportunistic acquisition, Matt’s strategic guidance will be invaluable.”

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Blank is joining the board at CuriosityStream shortly after the company entered into an agreement with Software Acquisition Group, a special purpose acquisition company, that will result in CuriosityStream common stock being listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol “CURI.” The company expects the merger agreement to close in the fourth quarter.

In connection with signing the merger agreement, Software Acquisition Group secured a $25 million PIPE investment to support the business combination.

“CuriosityStream has the unique advantage of being a ‘pure-play’ streaming media service that is not burdened with legacy linear TV assets in cable and broadcasting. Our consumer promise of offering premium factual content on demand in the new era of streaming has been enthusiastically embraced by curious viewers worldwide,” said John Hendricks, founder and chairman of CuriosityStream, in a statement. “We are excited to now have access to the public capital markets to support our growth plans and to over-deliver on our mission to provide content that informs, enchants and inspires.”

CuriosityStream – which charges $2.99/month or $19.99/year for HD and $9.99/month or $69.99/year for 4K – has more than 13 million worldwide subscribers.