Fandor Joins Amazon Channels, Names Distribution Head

SAN FRANCISCO: The streaming service Fandor, which launched with backing from Starz, is now available to Prime members on Amazon Channels, in addition to announcing a new partnership with LeEco and the appointment of a chief distribution officer.

Fandor offers independent films, documentaries, international features and shorts on a slew of devices. The service is now part of Amazon Channels, available across streaming media players and living room devices like PlayStation and Roku, as well as mobile devices, the Amazon Video app, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick and Fire tablets.

“We are extremely excited to be working with Amazon and to have Fandor included in the Amazon Channels offering,” said Fandor’s CEO, Larry Aidem. “It’s an excellent opportunity for us to bring a wide array of films not available anywhere else to new audiences.”

The global partnership between Fandor and LeEco begins with the highly anticipated U.S. launch of LeEco’s digital ecosystem, which makes its North American debut through ecotvs and ecophones. The Fandor app will be preloaded on all LeEco ecotvs and all purchasers of LeEco ecotvs and ecophones will receive a free one-year subscription to Fandor.

LeEco’s general manager of content acquisition, Jeff Briller, commented, “As LeEco prepares to launch in the U.S. we are focused on aligning with forward-thinking content companies like Fandor that are not hindered by legacy practices that prevent traditional media companies from sharing in both rewards and risks. We’re confident that Fandor will offer LeEco ecosystem users premium content.”

“Fandor’s existing subscription business, its editorial legacy and success at creating and distributing short-form video and text content across a range of platforms make it ideally suited to partner with an innovator like LeEco,” said Chris Kelly, the chairman of Fandor.

In personnel news, veteran HBO exec Felice Oper, who joined Fandor in 2015, is expanding her role to include chief distribution officer. Larry Aidem, Fandor’s president and CEO, said, “At HBO and Viacom in the ’90s, I worked with a remarkable cadre of respected TMT executives affectionately referred to as ‘recovering lawyers,’ one of which was Felice Oper. Then and now, she is deal-oriented, indefatigable and emotionally intelligent, while possessing a true understanding of the meaning of partnership. Having said that, Felice is not completely recovered. Like many of Fandor’s senior staffers, she’s an inveterate multitasker and will continue as general counsel, overseeing legal and business affairs.”