ESPN, Fox, WBD Streaming Sports Joint Venture Names Former Apple, Hulu Exec as CEO

Since Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced early last month that they would be coming together to create a streaming service that joined all of their disparate live sports broadcasting rights, there has been far more speculation about what this future platform will look like than actual, concrete answers. However, on Friday, the first major piece came into place as it was announced that Pete Distad would serve as the yet-unnamed streamer’s CEO.

Key Details:

• Pete Distad will serve as the sports JV’s CEO and will answer to a board of directors.
• The exec previously worked at Apple on Apple TV+ and was part of the team that launched Hulu.
• This is the first substantive detail about the streamer that has been confirmed since the news JV was initially announced.

Having spent the better part of a decade working at Apple, where he was responsible for video, sports, and Apple TV+ during his tenure, Distad will oversee all aspects of the forthcoming joint venture’s operations, from strategy and sales to distribution and marketing. However, it is Distad’s experience before beginning at Apple that is likely the most transferable to this new joint venture.

Starting with the platform’s initial launch, Distad worked at Hulu from 2007 to 2013, including as the SVP of marketing and distribution. When the streamer launched, he was responsible for customer acquisition and retention, as well as distribution and marketing. While Hulu will soon be completely owned by Disney, for Distad’s entire time with the platform, it had three equal owners; Comcast, Disney, and Fox — two of which are involved in the sports streaming JV.

“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. “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.”

Not only does the new CEO have experience launching a streamer, but he has done so while reporting to a group of owners representing three different major media organizations. As the JV continues to develop, Distad will report to a board of directors made up of representatives from each of the three companies involved in the project. He will also be responsible for assembling his own management team.

“Pete is an accomplished innovator and leader who has extensive experience with launching and growing new video services,” ESPN, Fox, and WBD said in a statement. “We are confident he and his team will build an extremely compelling, fan-focused product for our target market.”

The initially announced timetable for the service indicated that it would be up and running this fall, perhaps as early as August. However, since then, there have been a series of impediments that could delay — or even prevent — the launch of the streamer. The one that has garnered the most attention has been the anti-trust lawsuit filed by sports-focused live TV streaming service Fubo. The streamer contends that the launch of the JV would be anti-competitive and limit choices for consumers. While most legal analysts do not believe that the suit is likely to be successful, but there are other, perhaps more pressing issues that Distad will have to contend with.

Undoubtedly, the main driver for the launch of the JV in the fall would be the start of the 2024-25 college football and NFL seasons. Both ESPN and Fox carry regular season NFL games, and one of the major selling points for the service would likely be the ability to watch those games without a traditional pay-TV subscription. However, it appears that the league might not be on board with that plan.

Last month, it was reported that the NFL was examining its contracts with its media partners in order to determine if there were any loopholes that it could exercise to prevent its games from being included on the streamer. While the league might not have any legal recourse to prevent the move, if the NFL decides to dig its feet in, it might have enough leverage to persuade two of its longtime broadcast partners to change their plans.

Now that the service that is colloquially being called “Spulu” (a portmanteau for “sports” and “Hulu”) has a CEO, hopefully there will be even more answers to questions forthcoming, like a price, launch date, and, of course, a name.