Wal-Mart's Digital Chief Heads to Apple
Swint to Head Up International Video Acquisition for iTunes
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 2/4/2008 2:00:00 AM
Kevin Swint, previously Wal-Mart Stores divisional manager for digital media, will join Apple this week as general manager of international video for iTunes.
Swint, who confirmed his move to Apple in an e-mail with Multichannel News, said he will be responsible for acquiring movies and TV shows for all non-U.S. countries, whether the content is owned by Hollywood or international studios. His move was reported Friday by paidContent.org.
At Apple, Swint will be negotiating for sell-through -- the traditional paid-downloads iTunes business -- as well as rental rights. Last month the company announced plans to offer online video rentals, promising to stock more than 1,000 videos from major movie studios starting in February.
Wal-Mart in December pulled the plug on its much-ballyhooed paid video download site, blaming a decision by partner Hewlett-Packard to discontinue its digital media commerce services.
Since then, however, the world's biggest retailer has been evaulating ways to relaunch its video-download business, according to executives with a content-security firm familiar with Wal-Mart's plans.
Swint declined to comment on Wal-Mart's possible return to the video business. "I am starting at Apple this week and the role is head of video international, but I really shouldn't comment any further," he said in an e-mail.
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