Apple hires former Time Warner Cable executive to work on cloud services

Apple Store Front logo San Francisco

Apple has hired former Time Warner Cable executive Peter Stern as a vice president working on cloud services, reports The Wall Street Journal. Stern left TWC earlier this year after it was bought out by rival Charter Communications.

The new VP will report to Eddy Cue, who oversees businesses like the iTunes Store and Apple Music. Mr. Stern has deep knowledge of the cable industry’s economics, and relationships with a number of major media companies.

A well-respected cable industry veteran, Mr. Stern was a key Time Warner Cable executive involved in talks with Apple a few years ago about a potential deal to offer a joint television service over an Apple set-top box, people familiar with the matter said. 

At cable industry conferences, Mr. Stern was often vocal about how cable companies should move away from leasing customers proprietary set-top boxes and should be more open to offering their TV services as apps on many different devices. 

It’s unclear if Apple brought on Stern to aid with its streaming TV efforts, or a separate project. Apple at one time was rumored to be working on a TV service, but stalled negotiations forced it to refocus on producing original content.

Source: The Wall Street Journal