ESPN-Fox-WBD sports streamer gets a CEO

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The sports streaming joint venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery has named its first CEO.

The effort, which does not have an official name yet but has been labeled as “Spulu” by some, has picked Pete Distad to lead the new venture.

Distad comes on board after heading up Apple’s sports video operations, including the MLS Season Pass offering. He also worked on the tech giant’s Apple TV app and Apple TV+ teams.

Distad was also part of the team that launched Hulu, originally a joint venture between NBCUniversal, then Fox parent News Corp. and others (Disney would later sign on and eventually get control of the streamer, marketing it as a complementary service to its Disney+ offering with the option to bundle the two services).

The streaming venture is expected to bundle linear sports offerings from the three partner companies into a single offering, much like a bundle.

The effort is already attracting regulatory and legal battles; the FCC says it will review the deal’s structure as part of an antitrust review.

Streamer Fubo, which focuses on sports, is suing the three partners over the announced product, which is expected to launch later in 2024.

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