Justin Connolly, a veteran Disney distribution executive, has exited the company just as it enters into a consequential series of negotiations.
After more than two decades at ESPN and Disney, Connolly departed on Friday, according to a person familiar with the details. He had just last week taken part in ESPN’s high-profile media briefing about the sports division’s forthcoming, eponymous streaming service. Disney CEO Bob Iger, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro and a range of other top execs attended the New York event on the morning of the company’s upfront presentation to advertisers.
Sean Breen, EVP, Platform Distribution, and Jimmy Zasowski, EVP, Platform Distribution Strategy, will serve as interim leaders of the Platform Distribution group, sources familiar with the shuffle told Deadline.
Puck sports media specialist John Ourand broke the news Friday, adding that it wasn’t clear where Connolly was headed but that industry speculation centered on YouTube TV. He had re-upped with Disney earlier this year, so it evidently wasn’t a case of parties failing to finalize a contract.
YouTube TV did not immediately respond to Deadline’s request for comment. Disney declined to comment on the exec move.
The long-anticipated ESPN streaming launch in late-summer ahead of the start of the college football and NFL season will entail complex talks with distributors. The parties will be hashing out specific options and pricing for and integration of the stand-alone service into their offerings or granting access to existing subscribers, all while looking to safeguard ESPN’s legacy position in the pay-TV bundle. In addition to spearheading those talks, Connolly was also expected to be heavily involved with upcoming carriage discussions with YouTube TV. The pay-TV provider, now one of the largest in the U.S. with more than 8 million subscribers, is facing the end of its current contract with Disney later this year.
In the summers of 2023 and 2024, Connolly played a central role in negotiations between Disney and Charter Communications and DirecTV, respectively. The 2023 Charter agreement followed a 10-day blackout on Spectrum pay-TV and broadband video packages. The watershed deal including a number of streaming benefits for Disney but also the loss of traditional carriage for Freeform and other cable networks.
Connolly had been President of Platform Distribution since 2019, reporting to Alan Bergman and Dana Walden, Co-Chairmen of Disney Entertainment, and Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman of ESPN.. He oversaw all third-party media sales efforts for distribution, affiliate-related business operations for all Disney direct-to-consumer services and linear media networks, as well as content sales agreements.
In 2003, Connolly joined the company as Director, ESPN Strategy and Operations, and held a number of other posts over the years, first at ESPN and then at the parent company.
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