Apple Hires Former Disney, Hulu, and Quibi Executive for Apple TV

Apple has hired Tim Connolly, a Hollywood executive with experience at Disney, Hulu, and Quibi, for Apple TV, according to The Telegraph.

TimConnollyVarietyEntertainmentTechnologyN 0L5rR1qg3l

Connolly was vice-president of digital distribution and new product development at Disney. He was one of the most senior executives at streaming startup Quibi, running partnerships and advertising, but he vacated the role before the video service launched earlier this year. Connolly also helped to launch Hulu's live TV service, which involved striking deals with other major networks. Similarly, he oversaw a deal between Spotify and Hulu to bundle their services.

Connolly's exact role at Apple is as yet unknown, but it seems likely that he will be involved in brokering deals for ‌Apple TV‌'s Channels feature. The ‌Apple TV‌ app allows users to buy and watch third-party streaming services directly within the app, but support has been limited thus far. Apple began selling subscriptions to combined services last month, with a bundle including CBS All Access and Showtime, for an overall lower price of $9.99. This move and the hiring of Connolly may indicate that Apple is planning to launch more similar bundles and bolster ‌Apple TV‌ Channels.

Given Connolly's experience in bundling services, it is also possible that he is involved in launching Apple's upcoming "Apple One" subscription service bundles. The series of bundles would allow customers to subscribe to several Apple digital services, such as Apple Music and ‌Apple TV‌+, together. This is expected to result in a lower monthly price than when the services are subscribed to individually.

Apple did not respond to The Telegraph's request for comment. Connolly's arrival at Apple is yet another indication that the company is heavily investing in its TV and subscription service enterprises.

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple Expected to Launch 20+ Products This Year: Here's the Full List

Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year. Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Major Thermal Design Upgrade

Friday January 17, 2025 4:33 am PST by
The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report. The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader. Vapor chamber technology is already used...

Top Rated Comments

Q-Dog Avatar
57 months ago
Quibi is a smoking hot disaster, so ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Marbles1 Avatar
57 months ago
The customer experience / branding / communication of Apple TV has been atrocious.

It’s like they’ve not spoken to a single user.


‘The Apple TV app’, Apple TV+, Apple TV channels within the Apple TV app, Apple TV app channels on the Apple TV Box, streaming apps connected to the Apple TV app showing their content inside it on iOS devices only and not on the macOS Apple TV app, streaming apps as standalone apps on the Apple TV box but not available on macos....

It’s all such a mess. It smacks of too many cooks.

They need one person with a strong vision and the authority to sort it all out.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
crawfish963 Avatar
57 months ago
Don’t touch Ted Lasso! I love that show.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Treq Avatar
57 months ago
"He was one of the most senior executives at streaming startup Quibi, running partnerships and advertising, but he vacated the role before the video service launched earlier this year."

Well at least he's smart enough to know when to get out. Is Quibi still a thing?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dwaltwhit Avatar
57 months ago
I don’t understand the apple tv hate. I love several of the shows, find the app fine, and think its a value at the price. I guess to each is own, but dang
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
newyorksole Avatar
57 months ago
Seems like a good acquisition to me. I hope he has involvement with redesigning the AppleTV app and making it easier to see AppleTV+ content and other channels.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)