The upcoming sports streaming service from Disney, Fox & Warner Bros. Discovery has appointed Pete Distad as its CEO. Distad was previously the SVP of Marketing and Distribution at Hulu, and before that he managed business, operations, and global distribution for Video, Sports, and Apple TV+ at Apple. He also oversaw the MLS Season Pass during his time at Apple.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch has set a goal of reaching 5M subscribers in the first five years of the service launching in the fall. However, pricing has not yet been confirmed. The new service will offer 14 linear network feeds from its member companies’ portfolio to provide coverage of major sports such as NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball. Paramount and NBCUniversal are not included in the offering. While regional sports networks or full-season league offerings are not planned for now, Distad is excited about creating a differentiated product for passionate sports fans outside of traditional pay TV bundles in the US. He aims to build a best-in-class service by combining leading sports content portfolios of the three companies involved.
