Charter Communications and Comcast has picked Marcien Jenckes to lead their recently-unveiled 50:50 joint venture to launch a next-generation streaming platform on varied branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs.
Jenckes has served as president of advertising for Comcast Cable since 2017. In his new role, he will develop the nationwide streaming platform and its monetization models.
“Marcien has been an outstanding leader within our company for over a decade. His blend of experience as an entrepreneur, as an expert in improving customers’ entertainment experience, and an innovator in the rapidly changing advertising environment, makes him uniquely qualified to helm this partnership with Charter,” Dave Watson, CEO of Comcast Cable, said in a statement on Thursday.
To launch the digital platform, Comcast will license Flex, its aggregated streaming platform and hardware to the joint venture, and contribute the XClass TV retail business, and Xumo, an ad-supported streaming service it acquired in 2020. Charter will invest an initial $900 million in the JV, to be funded over several years.
Before joining Comcast, Jenckes worked on varied digital advertising and media syndication start-ups, including Grab Networks and Voxant. He also worked at AOL Inc. and McKinsey & Company in their media and telecom practice.
The joint venture does not involve the broadband or cable video businesses of either Comcast or Charter, which will remain independent.
