Quibi, the billion dollar mobile video startup from Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman, has hired former Fox Broadcast Company executive Craig Kurland as its head of affairs. Kurland will report to Katzenberg.
During his time at Fox Broadcast Company, Kurland served as EVP of business affairs. Prior to working at Fox, the industry exec served as SVP of 20th Century Fox Television and SVP of broadcast network and studio business affairs for NBCUniversal Television.
Kurland, who started at Quibi last week, joins a team of industry veterans which have been tapped from companies, including Hulu, The Hollywood Reporter and WarnerMedia.The growing roster includes former Hulu executives Tim Connolly and Jim O’Gorman, who now serve as head of partnerships and SVP of talent, respectively; Diane Nelson, former president of DC Entertainment and current head of operations at Quibi; and former Hollywood Reporter co-president Janice Min, who was hired by Quibi back in September as a content executive.
Founded by Katzenberg and Whitman, Quibi closed a $1 billion round of funding in August from big-name investors such as 21st Century Fox, Disney, NBCUniversal, Viacom and WarnerMedia.
The service, which will focus on producing and distributing short-form content, is expected to have a two-tier pricing model: an $8 per month option that doesn’t include advertising, and a $5 per month tier that has limited ads. Katzenberg is expected to launch the streaming platform in either late 2019 or early 2020.