Pay TV and digital media industry vet Ian Aaron has been named president of Frequency, an Internet video company that recently landed an $11 million round of funding from a group that included Liberty Global.
In his new role, Aaron will head up global distribution, content licensing and business development for the Los Angeles-based cloud-based internet video service, which aggregates and distributes content from a wide range of producers and integrates them with several platforms via a single license.
Frequency, which is working with MVPDs to integrate OTT fare with set-top boxes, allows partners to generate “personalized channels” that tap into social media and other data that can uncover their interests and provide offerings that expand and enhance traditional TV platforms. “We can look at a show you’re watching on TV — VOD or live — and automatically discover programming related to what you’re watching,” Blair Harrison, Frequency’s founder and CEO, said in a recent interview (subscription required).
Aaron is late of several companies in the telecom, media and tech sectors, including Gemstar TV Guide International (now part of Rovi), where he was president; and was CEO of TVN Entertainment (now Vubiquity). He was also CEO of ConnecTV, a startup that was focused on social TV apps, a director at datacasting specialist Dotcast, and was a top exec at SoftNet Systems, a broadband pioneer that once ran a subsidiary called ISP Channel that, in its heyday, provided turn-key cable modem services to MSOs.
“Ian has been an advisor to Frequency since we started the company six years ago,” Harrison said in a statement. “He brings a unique breadth of experience to us, having built and run businesses from TV to digital media. His leadership is going to be invaluable to us as we continue our rapid global expansion.”
“Frequency has built a comprehensive video platform that has been validated by some of the top MVPDs and mobile operators,” said Aaron. “With the increase in popularity and quality of content from multi-channel and digital networks, we have a unique opportunity to integrate a format of programming into the current TV bundle that attracts a new and younger audience.”
