WarnerMedia installs streaming chief
Details
Michelle Clancy
| 27 November 2018

Long-time DirecTV veteran Brad Bentley has been tapped to run WarnerMedia’s streaming video group.

WarnerMedia, a division of AT&T created out of its acquisition of Time Warner, is prepping an OTT service that will combine content from in-house properties HBO, Turner and Warner Bros, along with licenced programming; it’s set to debut late next year. As GM and EVP for direct-to-consumer development, Bentley will be responsible for its development and launch.

Bentley was previously head of marketing for AT&T Entertainment Group and DirecTV. He joined AT&T when the telco giant bought DirecTV in 2015; previously he had been at the satellite company since 2000.

WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey announced the appointment in a memo to staff, obtained by Variety.

“These initial changes are intended to build a direct-to-consumer organisation and execution capability necessary to move the overall effort forward and answer the many questions that must be addressed prior to launch,” Stankey wrote in the memo. “As work streams are better defined, I expect there will be further changes and adjustments to our operating model — exactly what, when and who, remains a work in progress that will be heavily influenced by this early work.”

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Criterion Collection — which had been an exclusive partner for FilmStruck — said that it planned to launch a standalone streaming service next year under a new deal with WarnerMedia.