A media executive who held top roles at Apple and the Walt Disney Company’s Hulu is one of the top candidates to serve as the leader of a new sports-focused streaming joint venture.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal said executives at Fox Corporation, Disney’s ESPN and Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) TNT Sports were considering Pete Distad to oversee the development and launch of their new sports-inclusive streaming service.
Whoever lands the job is expected to be named by the three companies within the next few weeks, the Journal said, citing unnamed sources who were said to be familiar with the process.
Earlier this month, the three companies committed to developing the yet-to-be-named streaming service that will offer online access to their broadcast and cable channels.
An initial announcement said the service will offer channels that broadcast live sports programming, including Fox, ABC, ESPN, Fox Sports 1, TNT, TBS and Tru TV. It is not expected to include channels like Disney, FX and CNN that typically lack live sports programming.
That point has drawn the ire of some cable industry groups, who say Fox, ESPN and TNT Sports are trying to carve out favorable terms for their forthcoming streaming service while imposing archaic conditions on cable and satellite companies that want to offer a similar bundle.
For years, cable and satellite companies have been forced to take all or none of a company’s linear channels, with carriage agreements dictating how those channels will be offered to subscribers. For instance, Disney typically requires cable and satellite companies to place ESPN in a base programming package alongside Disney, FX and other channels. Fox has similar arrangements with its broadcast, cable news and sports channels.
Cable groups like ACA Connects say they’ve long wanted to separate sports channels — which are usually among the most-expensive to carry — from broadcast, news and general entertainment cable networks, but are forced by the owners of those channels to agree to terms that lead to higher fees for pay TV subscribers.
“The ‘house of cards’ in the video marketplace continues to wobble,” said Grant Spellmeyer, the CEO of ACA Connects, a group that represents small and rural-area cable companies “Allowing the biggest media players to join forces — while locking out traditional linear cable providers from offering the same package at the same price — only gives even more power and leverage to the Goliaths to extract more money from customers of ACA Connects members.”
Spellmeyer said the forthcoming streaming service demonstrates that the television landscape operates in something other than a free market, one where broadcasters have incredible leverage over cable and satellite platforms.
“With customers facing higher prices and fewer affordable choices, there needs to be a level playing field,” Spellmeyer said.
Assuming the streaming service continues on as planned, it will offer premium sports programming from four of the top sports leagues in the country — the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL). Fox and TNT Sports also hold certain NASCAR rights, and all three air college sports.
