Peter Faricy, who left Amazon to head up Discovery’s direct-to-consumer business, has resigned from the company, effective July 15.
Discovery has launched small direct-to-consumer businesses in the U.S., but has struggled to come up with an aggregated streaming video strategy at a time when other media companies have launched over-the-top businesses as traditional pay TV subscribers cut the cable cord.
Related: Discovery Talking With Distributors About DTC
Under Faricy, Discovery launched Food Network Kitchen, a joint venture with Amazon.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Faricy won’t be replaced and that Avi Saxena, Karen Leever and Lisa Holme who had been in charge of parts of Discovery’s U.S. DTC business would be reporting to him.
Saxena will be responsible for Food Network Kitchen and the product strategy for the upcoming Magnolia DTC business.
Leever will continue to head Discovery’s TV Everywhere and Go app business. She will lead the effort to create an aggregated app strategy in the U.S.
Holme, who recently joined Discovery from Hulu, will be responsible for content and programming strategies around the aggregated app.
JB Perrette, CEO of Discovery International, will oversee Dplay and Discovery’s sports DTC offerings and its MotorTrend business.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Discovery said it has agreed to treat Faricy’s departure as a termination not for cause under the terms of his employment agreement. Faricy’s compensation for 2019 was $7.3 million
