Ex-Apple exec Pete Distad named CEO of sports streaming venture

Disney's ESPN (DIS), Fox (FOX, FOXA), and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) have joined forces to launch a joint sports venture streaming service. On Friday, the companies announced Pete Distad, a former Apple (AAPL) and Hulu executive, would serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the upcoming service.

The highly anticipated streaming service is slated for launch in the fall, with Wall Street analysts estimating that the service could have a subscription fee ranging between $40 and $50 per month.

Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal breaks down the details.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: The new sports streaming partnership among Disney's ESPN, Warner Brothers Discovery, and Fox has found its CEO. It's former Apple and Hulu executive. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal. She's been following this for more.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah. So now we have a little bit more context, a little bit more information when it comes to this skinny bundle between ESPN, Warner Brothers Discovery, and Fox. Like you said, Julie, Pete Distad is going to be the new CEO. He's a former executive at-- at both Hulu and Apple. So he has that connection with Disney, which I think is important because he's going to be working across three different companies. So the fact that he's already been at one of those three, I think, is important.

Now he was at Apple for a decade. Prior to that, he was at Hulu for six years. But while he was at Apple, he was responsible for the business operations and global distribution of the tech giant's video and sports efforts. That included the launch of Apple TV in 2015, the eventual-- eventual launch of the streaming service Apple TV+, and then that $2.5 billion acquisition of MLS Season Pass in 2022.

So he has the sports and streaming experience that these three companies had really been looking for. This is a service that's going to launch in the fall. We don't know the price point, but Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said that he expects it to be on the higher end of estimates. Wall Street is estimating between 40 to 50 bucks a month. So expect to pay around that $50 range. He also said that he is-- he expects subscribers to hit around 5 million in five years. So by the year 2029. Just put that number in perspective.

YouTube TV, which probably is going to be a pretty big competitor, that has more than 8 million subscribers. And that launched in 2017. So we'll see they're targeting the cord cutters, the cord nevers. I think a big question mark is going to come down to price and how much people are willing to pay for this type of service. Let's find out.

JOSH LIPTON: Right now, Alex, it's like 40 to 50 you're hearing out there?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: That's the range. And he did say the higher range of estimates. So I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something between 50 to 55 bucks a month, which is a lot of money. But if you're a big sports fan--

JOSH LIPTON: Yeah.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I think those people like to pay.

JOSH LIPTON: We'll see how big that audience is. That's the money. Thank you, Alex.