Venu Sports Sets Senior Management Team, More Than 150 Execs, Engineers Working on Launch of Disney, WBD, Fox’s Streamer

Key senior hires include chief business officer Tim Connolly, CTO Skarpi Hedinsson and CMO Brian Borkowski

Venu Sports, the sports-streaming joint venture of Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp., has rounded out the senior management team under CEO Pete Distad.

At this point, Venu Sports says more than 150 engineers and executives are working toward the launch of the service, which is pegged for a fall 2024 debut. A rep clarified that the majority of those are currently Fox Corp. employees, some of whom are expected to join Venu.

Key senior hires announced Tuesday include chief business officer Tim Connolly (formerly with Apple TV+ and Hulu), CTO Skarpi Hedinsson (previously with the L.A. Rams and Disney/ABC Television Group) and CMO Brian Borkowski (former FanDuel and Hulu exec).

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Disney, Fox and WBDunveiled Venu Sports as the name of the venturelast month. That came after the three companies unveiled the JV in February, have targeted a fall 2024 launch for the streaming-sports bundle. The service will combine ESPN+ with their linear TV networks that carry sports programming: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS and truTV. Pricing and a specific launch date haven’t been announced.

“Getting the chance to assemble the starting lineup for the management team re -

'If She Goes Back We'll Do a 9-1,...

sponsible for building the Venu organization, creating the culture, setting the pace of innovation, and ultimately, fueling the growth behind our forthcoming service has been an incredible opportunity,” Distad said in a statement. “We searched for people with an entrepreneurial spirit who could bring diverse perspectives to Venu Sports with experience launching beloved consumer products and growing high-performing teams, and brought together a group of all-stars in their respective fields.”

According to Venu (pronounced “venue”), the streaming bundle’s launch is still conditional on receiving regulatory approval as well as the “finalization of definitive agreements amongst the parties.” The parent companies also are the target of a lawsuit by sports-centric streaming company Fubo, which alleges the joint venture violates antitrust law.

Venu’s teams are based in New York and Los Angeles. Reporting to Distad, a former Apple TV+ exec, the senior management team includes:

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