ABC Digital Boss Albert Cheng Lands at Amazon

Albert Cheng, who left his longtime role as ABC’s chief digital exec in April, has a new gig: He’s the chief operating officer at Amazon Studios, the Amazon unit that makes original TV shows and movies for the e-commerce giant.

Amazon has been creating its own TV shows for a couple of years, and while its home-grown programming doesn’t have the breadth or usage of rival Netflix, it does have a bit of momentum in Hollywood, in large part because of its critically acclaimed “Transparent” series.

ABC

At ABC, Cheng was best known as the guy who helped bring the network’s TV shows to the Internet, via streaming websites and apps. Amazon says he will oversee “Amazon Studios’ efforts across all business operations and software development.” Cheng will report to Amazon Studios head Roy Price, another Disney veteran.

Amazon also wants to get into the movie business, and is bolstering those efforts by hiring Bob Berney, a Hollywood executive best known for marketing indie hits including “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “The Passion of the Christ.” Berney, who will head up distribution and marketing for Amazon Studios’ movies, was most recently CEO of Picturehouse, a small movie distributor he relaunched two years ago.

In January, Amazon said it wants to create a dozen new movies a year. The plan is to bring them to theaters first, and then show them to Amazon Prime members 30-60 days after their debut — much faster than Hollywood’s traditional distribution “window.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via