Bloomberg last mont asserted Apple had poached Hulu executive Pete Distad to help push forward its stalling negotiations with media moguls and cable companies. According to a new report out today, the executive has now started work at Apple in marketing capacity: Hulu has killed Distad’s bio page and the executive’s LinkedIn profile now lists him as Apple’s Vice President of Product Marketing.
Distad was Hulu’s Senior Vice President in charge of marketing and distribution so he clearly knows a thing or two about the complex web of licensing deals, though it remains unclear if his product marketing role entails dealing with content owners at all…
As noted by Jordan Kahn of 9to5Mac, Distad was responsible for content distribution and customer acquisition and retention at Hulu, which included “subscriber acquisition and retention, paid, on-channel, and brand marketing, distribution and promotional partnerships, and content marketing”.
Bloomberg’s July article claimed Apple had hired Distad to help with ongoing negotiations with Time Warner Cable. The two companies were close to “announce an agreement within a few months” that would bring Time Warner shows to the Apple TV set-top box, the report asserted.
Apple’s hope was that Distad could help with negotiations with cable and media companies, the article claimed.
Back in June, the Apple TV gained Time Warner’s HBO GO, WatchESPN and Sky News live streaming capability, a move that signaled the company was taking premium content more seriously than ever before. And if WSJ is to be trusted, a 24/7 music video streaming service Vevo is coming to the Apple TV later this week.
Apple has been on a somewhat of a hiring spree as of lately.
Just recently, the firm hired Paul Deneve, a former CEO of the luxury French fashion label Yves Saint Laurent, to work on special projects as a Vice President reporting directly to Apple’s boss Tim Cook.
And earlier this week, word came that the iPhone maker poached a Levi Strauss executive Enrique Atienza to head Apple’s retail business within the West Coast of the United States, indicating that the company is getting closer to fill the hole left following former SVP of Retail Ron Johnson’s departure.