Apple reportedly poaches Amazon exec to head sports for Apple TV+
According to an unconfirmed report on Wednesday, Apple recently hired Amazon Video sports content chief James DeLorenzo to fill a similar role at Apple TV+.
Calling it a "Tweetscoop," Recode's Peter Kafka said DeLorenzo will head up sports for Apple TV, assumedly performing duties comparable to those carried out during his time at Amazon.
"Tweetscoop: Apple has hired Amazon exec Jim DeLorenzo to head up sports for its Apple TV unit. DeLorenzo went to Amazon in 2016 to run sports there, tho his current LinkedIn says he's svp at Amazon's Audible," Kafka tweeted.
DeLorenzo's LinkedIn profile has not been updated to reflect the reported move to Apple, and lists his current position as "Head of Sports" at Amazon Video. He is also listed as an SVP at Amazon subsidiary Audible and an active member of NextGen Venture Partners.
With a background in legal affairs, DeLorenzo previously ran Sports Illustrated's digital video initiative and helped launch Time's 120 Sports video partnership, Recode reported in 2016. At launch, 120 Sports included partnerships with the NHL, NBA, MLB.com, NASCAR and multiple collegiate conferences.
Just prior to his four-year stint at Amazon, DeLorenzo launched and operated Hollywood studio Relativity Media's sports division.
Neither Apple nor Amazon has confirmed the hire.
Today's report follows rumors that Apple is looking to bolster its Apple TV+ streaming video service with live sports content.
Rumors dating back to early 2019 revealed Apple's early interest in live sports content. At the time, it was thought that the iPhone maker had no interest in streaming live sports, but a more recent report claimed executives were pursuing deals to add such options to the growing Apple TV+ catalog.
In March it was reported that Apple showed interest in acquiring media rights to Pac-12 Conference games. Current rights holders ESPN and Fox will see their existing agreement with the collegiate sports conference expire after the 2023-2024 season.
Calling it a "Tweetscoop," Recode's Peter Kafka said DeLorenzo will head up sports for Apple TV, assumedly performing duties comparable to those carried out during his time at Amazon.
"Tweetscoop: Apple has hired Amazon exec Jim DeLorenzo to head up sports for its Apple TV unit. DeLorenzo went to Amazon in 2016 to run sports there, tho his current LinkedIn says he's svp at Amazon's Audible," Kafka tweeted.
DeLorenzo's LinkedIn profile has not been updated to reflect the reported move to Apple, and lists his current position as "Head of Sports" at Amazon Video. He is also listed as an SVP at Amazon subsidiary Audible and an active member of NextGen Venture Partners.
With a background in legal affairs, DeLorenzo previously ran Sports Illustrated's digital video initiative and helped launch Time's 120 Sports video partnership, Recode reported in 2016. At launch, 120 Sports included partnerships with the NHL, NBA, MLB.com, NASCAR and multiple collegiate conferences.
Just prior to his four-year stint at Amazon, DeLorenzo launched and operated Hollywood studio Relativity Media's sports division.
Neither Apple nor Amazon has confirmed the hire.
Today's report follows rumors that Apple is looking to bolster its Apple TV+ streaming video service with live sports content.
Rumors dating back to early 2019 revealed Apple's early interest in live sports content. At the time, it was thought that the iPhone maker had no interest in streaming live sports, but a more recent report claimed executives were pursuing deals to add such options to the growing Apple TV+ catalog.
In March it was reported that Apple showed interest in acquiring media rights to Pac-12 Conference games. Current rights holders ESPN and Fox will see their existing agreement with the collegiate sports conference expire after the 2023-2024 season.
Comments
....and the 50 ft inflatable And self lubricating statue of Oprah Winfrey standing in the corner of Tim Cook’s Office just
ain’t gonna cut it.
Doesn’t Hooters have its own channel?
Most of Netflix staff isn't in the creative side. Netflix is a platform company, not a production company, most of their job roles are for things like server engineering, acquisitions, marketing. Creative production is to oversee and manage production companies:
https://jobs.netflix.com/search?team=Creative Production
When they 'produce' content, it's just like how Apple does it where they pay production companies to make content exclusively. People like the following, Netflix chief content officer, just go around allocating the budget:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Sarandos
Apple buying a production company like Time Warner (HBO, DC Comics, New Line Cinema), which they were apparently going to do before AT&T bought them would have made more sense. Buying Netflix only gives them a media brand and a content delivery platform and they have their own content delivery platform.
Buying a production company like Time Warner means they have to support the whole operation, which would likely require monetizing their product on more platforms than their own, which defeats the point of owning the production to an extent. It's cheaper to buy exclusive productions than to exclusively own an entire production studio. Time Warner was bought for $85b. If Apple commissioned separate projects from them at $100m each, they'd get 850 exclusive shows/movies but not putting the investment in one place means they can invest in different production studios.
There's an article here with some comments on the success of the Netflix model:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/netflix-why-att-bought-time-warner-and-comcast-and-disney-want-fox.html
Their success came from investor confidence in the idea that consumers wouldn't want to use dozens of different separate services but rather a content aggregator and this investor confidence gave them the purchasing power to do it. It's a similar story with Amazon and their Amazon Basics and Prime delivery.
Given that Apple has the platform and the budget, it's now all about content acquisition, which is what this hire is for in sports. For TV/movie content, they'd commission some of these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_production_companies
If they were to hire from Netflix, it would be from the content acquisition team. Maybe they'd make better acquisition choices than the people Apple has already but it's hard to tell.