Philippe Guelton, the EVP of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, has been named president of Crackle Plus, CSS Entertainment announced Tuesday.
Crackle Plus is a joint video-on-demand venture formed by CSS Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television in March. As part of the venture, CSS Entertainment assumed control of Sony’s ad-supported streaming service Crackle and announced plans to consolidate the streamer’s operations with CSS Entertainment’s other ad-supported platforms, including Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Popcornflix Comedy, Frightpix, Espanolflix and Truli.
As president of Crackle Plus, Guelton will oversee the merger of assets from CSS Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television into Crackle Plus. He will continue to report to Elana Sofko, COO of CSS Entertainment.
Joining the leadership team with Guelton are three former Sony Pictures Television executives — Darren Olive, Jason Schaeffer, and Tony Simon.
Olive, who previously served as VP of national video sales for Sony Crackle, Sony’s PlayStation Vue, and Funimation, will serve as Crackle Plus’ EVP of advertising sales. Before Sony Pictures Television, Olive served as the national VP of digital and video advertising sales for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.
Schaeffer, who served as VP of global revenue operations for Sony Crackle, has been appointed to SVP of business development, marketing, and business intelligence for Crackle Plus. Prior to Sony Pictures Television, Schaeffer worked at Disney Interactive and Dow Jones in business-development roles after leaving Merrill Lynch where he worked in the M&A department.
Simon, who will serve as Crackle Plus’ SVP of content and operations, previously worked as vice president of global network and content operations for Sony Crackle. Prior to that, he spent more than 15 years at Disney where he managed content operations for multiple linear networks and oversaw distribution for 26 VOD and digital partners.