Direct TV alums to steer SBC Lightspeed
The lure of the burgeoning internet protocol television market has proved irresistible for several former Direct TV executives, who have joined SBC to help steer the US cable giant's bn investment in Project Lightspeed.
Chris Lauricella, Direct TV's director of programming acquisitions; Richard Levine, a former acting director of programming acquisitions; and Richard
Wellerstein, another former Direct TV employee, are among a raft of new appointments at SBC.
All have joined the firm to spearhead its proposed roll out of a fibre network to 18m households across 13 US states over the next two years, with the aim of delivering IP-based television and telephone services.
As reported by C21 earlier this month, the global IPTV market is expected to be worth some .2bn by 2008, in no small part thanks to SBC's bn investment in the Project Lightspeed plan. The company intends to begin a phased launch of the service later this year or early in 2006, under the brand name U-verse.
The chance to be involved in the latest revolution to hit the television industry and the sums of money involved is clearly tempting those in other, more established areas of the business.
Lauricella brings eight years of experience from Direct TV, where he was previously in charge of the News Corp-controlled company's relationships with all sports programming providers, including the professional leagues and ESPN.
His defection to SBC comes to light days after Direct TV unveiled a shake-up of senior programming staff, which saw Fox Sports ceo David Hill taking control of the satellite platform's programme line-up as president of a newly-created entertainment division.
Lauricella will oversee the development of sports programming at SBC. Levine follows Lauricella, having served in an acting director of programming acquisition capacity at Direct TV. He will focus on local programming and broadcast retransmission.
Wellerstein, meanwhile, who also counts Direct TV among his former employers and has also worked for Sony Pictures Television, was most recently vp of theatrical programming and acquisition for pay-per-view and VoD operator iN Demand Networks. He will oversee SBC's push into video-on-demand.
Speaking of the appointments, SBC head of programming, Dan York said they brought "valuable experience and relationships as we continue to work with the programming community to deliver content to consumers in new and better ways."
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