Disney has been looking for the right person to head up their forthcoming online streaming endeavor and it looks like the search is complete. Former Apple and Samsung executive Kevin Swint has been hired, by Disney’s BAMTech Media, to build and run Disney’s Streaming Service.
Swint is being brought as senior vice president and general manager in hopes that the experienced tech execs leadership can help the service truly rival Netflix. His resume includes leading the movie group at Apple iTunes, and most recently as VP of Samsungs product/content & services.
With the massive amount of titles Disney has acquired in recent years, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and now 20th Century Fox’s catalog, it seems Swint has a large toy box to play in, but he still has a lot of work to do on the still unnamed streaming service.
It’s widely known that with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox gave them controlling interest in Hulu, but Disney has already been laying the groundwork for their streaming dreams when last year Disney also acquired a large stake in the streaming solutions provider BAMTech for $1.58 billion. Though Disney already owned stake in BAMTech, but Disney now holds majority ownership with in this company as well.
Any new service likely won’t see any Fox content for quite some time as regulators are expected to take as long as 18 months to approve the deal. What exactly Disney’s Streaming Service will finally look like is still taking shape, but Disney is confident they found the right man for the job. The streaming service is set to launch in 2019.