Venu Sports hires Ex-Apple Exec Tony Billetter as SVP of Strategy and Planning

Tony Billetter, formerly Apple’s head of worldwide business strategy and planning for video and sports, has taken on a similar role at Venu Sports, the recently formed joint venture of Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery, reports Variety.

With the move, Billetter rejoins Pete Distad, CEO of Venu, who had previously overseen Apple TV+’s business, operations and global distribution and worked at the tech giant for a decade. Distad left Apple in May 2023.

Billetter worked at Apple since December 2017 before leaving to start at L.A.-based Venu last month, according to his LinkedIn profile. A rep for Venu Sports confirmed Billetter’s hire to Variety. Prior to Apple, Billetter worked at Disney for more than 10 years, where his roles included director of strategic planning for Walt Disney Studios. 

Venu Sports is an upcoming sports-focused streaming service to be operated as a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (via its majority-owned subsidiary ESPN Inc.), Fox Corporation (owner of Fox Sports), and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD, owner of TNT Sports). Announced on February 6, 2024, it is scheduled to launch this fall.

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