Fox has appointed Pete Distad as CEO of its upcoming streaming service, which is expected to launch by the end of 2025.
The former Apple TV+ and Hulu executive transitions to the role from the recently scrapped Venu Sports, where he was set to be chief executive. Distad will report to Tubi Media Group CEO Paul Cheesbrough and will assume oversight of all aspects of the upcoming platform.
“Pete is a proven leader with deep experience in consumer products, and we’re thrilled to have him join the team to lead this new platform,” Cheesbrough said on Thursday. “His track record of innovation, execution and building world-class streaming products speaks for itself, and we’re confident that under his leadership, we will deliver a best-in-class service that showcases Fox’s premium content and brands.”
Prior to joining Venu in March 2024, Distad worked at Apple from 2013 to 2023, where he was responsible for the business, operations and global distribution for sports video at Apple TV+. He originally joined the tech giant to lead product marketing for Apple TV hardware. During his tenure, he launched the Apple TV in 2015 and led teams that launched and scaled the Apple TV app, Apple TV+ and MLS Season Pass.
Before that, he worked at Hulu from 2007 to 2013, where he was part of the service’s original launch team, overseeing customer acquisition and retention, distribution and marketing. His experience at Hulu included serving as senior vice president of marketing and distribution on the executive team.
“I’m excited to bring Fox’s leading sports, news and entertainment content to audiences outside the traditional pay TV bundle for the first time via an all-new streaming platform,” Distad said in a statement. “Working closely with our content, distribution and platform partners, we’re going to build and grow a differentiated viewing experience for consumers to access their favorite Fox programming.”
During its second quarter earnings call earlier this month, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the new streaming service would be a “lean and mean bundle” of its existing sports, news and brands. He added that it would be “economically positive” for the company, with an incremental cost that would be “relatively low” compared to its peers.
CFO Steve Tomsic also told an investor conference earlier this week that the offering does not mark a shift in strategy and that it’s not trying to “chase the SVOD dream” that Netflix, Disney, Paramount+, Max and Peacock are pursuing. Instead, the service is aimed at around 50 million households in the U.S. that are outside of the pay TV ecosystem.
When asked about scale expectations for the new streaming service, Tomsic said that it would likely fall somewhere within the 5 million over five years previously forecasted for Venu Sports. He added that the new packaging for Fox programming would be appealing for “distributors trying to modernize and get more progressive in terms of how they bundle networks and SVOD services.”
While acknowledging that Fox’s new streaming product may accelerate cord-cutting, Tomsic emphasized that the bundle is still “the bedrock of our business and the consumption of our services for many, many years to come.”
In addition to the currently unnamed service, Fox currently operates the free, ad-supported streaming service Tubi, which has 97 million monthly active users. It also operates Fox Nation, which hit 2 million subscribers in March 2024.
