FuboTV Hires Former AppNexus CTO Geir Magnusson Jr.
By Todd Spangler
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – FuboTV, a sports-centered internet pay-TV startup, has hired technology veteran Geir Magnusson Jr. as chief technology officer.
Magnusson takes over the CTO role from Jason Solinsky, who departed in the fourth quarter 2017 and has since co-founded a wireless-video startup based in New York, according to his LinkedIn bio .
Most recently, Magnusson was chief technology officer of content-monetization startup Sourcepoint, which he co-founded in 2015. Before that he spent two years at digital-advertising company AppNexus, most recently as CTO; last month AT&T acquired AppNexus .
FuboTV enlisted Magnusson as a technology consultant earlier this year and how now officially brought him on board as CTO. He’s tasked with leading FuboTV’s tech development and operations for the company, which expects to double its engineering team over the next few months.
Magnusson is based in FuboTV’s New York City headquarters and reports to David Gandler, co-founder and CEO. “We are delighted to welcome aboard Geir. He has a strong track record of scaling complex global platforms and a proven ability to guide transformation at leading tech companies,” Gandler said in a statement. “We believe Geir’s expertise and passion for innovation will ensure we maintain our leadership position as we deliver to consumers a next-generation live OTT experience.”
This week, FuboTV launched its first 4K content, becoming the first virtual multichannel video programming distributor to offer content in Ultra HD and high dynamic range (HDR) formats. Initially, FuboTV is offering Fox and FS1’s main broadcasts of 2018 World Cup matches in 4K HDR10 on all Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV devices that support the format. In January, FuboTV officially launched dynamic ad insertion on live channels, ahead of internet pay-TV rivals.
Magnusson has three decades of experience leading product and engineering for technology and software companies. Previously, he held senior positions at companies including Gilt Groupe, 10gen (now MongoDB), Joost Technologies, Intel and Bloomberg.
FuboTV first launched as a U.S. streaming soccer service in January 2015 and has expanded its offerings to compete with other over-the-top TV providers, including Dish’s Sling TV, AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Google’s YouTube TV, Hulu With Live TV and Sony’s PlayStation Vue.
To date, the company has raised more than $150 million in funding. That included a $75 million Series D round that closed in April 2018 and included participation from 21st Century Fox, AMC Networks, Luminari Capital, Northzone, Sky and the former Scripps Networks Interactive (now owned by Discovery).
