Lindsay Gardner, a pay-TV vet late of Fox Networks and Cox Communications, has been named content advisory board chair of Layer3 TV, the Denver-based startup that’s billing itself as a next-generation cable operator.
Layer3 TV said Gardner is on board to help the company recruit core programming talent and strike partnerships with programmers and other content providers. Gardner, who is also a senior advisor to Oaktree Capital Management, reports to Layer3 TV CEO and company co-founder Jeff Binder.
During his cable career, Gardner led distribution at Fox Networks for eight years through 2007, eventually rising to president, affiliate sales and marketing. He also spent six years at Cox, including as executive director, programing; and also served as executive director, planning and new business at In Demand, the MSO-backed provider of pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.
He joins Layer3 TV almost a month after the company opened its new Denver headquarters. Founded in 2013, Layer3 TV has about 50 employees across its Colorado and Boston locations, and has recently hired other industry vets, including former Comcast and Charter Communications engineering exec John Roy, and Bob Scheffler, a former Motorola and Broadbus exec who is the startup’s head of architecture.
Layer3 TV, which has raised about $21 million so far, has said little about its approach and how it might compete with or complement more traditional cable operators and other MVPDs. The company has previously described itself as a “technology platform” that will deliver “a differentiated video consumer experience while fitting squarely within today’s programming and distribution paradigm.”
Layer3 TV has not revealed a launch date, but it will happen sometime next year, according to Deadline.com.
The company also has not announced any deals with programmers, but this is apparently where Gardner will fit in.
“Lindsay’s 25 years of leadership in the industry provides Layer3 TV with knowledge and experience from a Hollywood veteran who also understands how to innovate without having to disrupt the existing distribution paradigm,” said Binder, in a statement. “He has a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit, which will help to power the next generation cable ecosystem we are bringing to market.”
“Layer3 TV has assembled an extraordinary team and is poised to execute an innovative vision collaborative with the content community,” Gardner added. “I’m thrilled to help this world class team forge the next generation of mutually beneficial programming partnerships.”
Layer3 TV is on a hiring spree. Open jobs in Denver include director of field operations, DRM and content security engineer, senior director of customer care, and VP of finance. In Boston, it’s seeking an iOS engineer, an embedded systems engineer, a speech scientist, a senior director of search/recommendations, and a senior user experience designer, among others.
