John Honeycutt is leaving Discovery after more than 15 years to join Google Cloud as head of its telecommunications, media and entertainment verticals.
Honeycutt most recently was chief technology officer at Discovery, serving in the role for four and a half years. In the newly created position at Google, Honeycutt will lead development and implementation of Google Cloud’s worldwide strategy, using his pay-TV background to focus on helping migrate traditional video distribution workflows from film studios, content creators and distributors to the cloud. In addition, Honeycutt will work closely with telcos, cable and satellite TV providers and will focus on driving cloud adoption by gaming and esports companies.
Currently based in Reston, Va., Honeycutt will report directly to Tariq Shaukat, Google Cloud’s president of global alliances and industry platforms.
“I have an amazing opportunity at an amazing company,” Honeycutt said in a statement. “I plan to leverage my expertise as a business operator to prioritize workflow and supply chain optimization, leverage our leading AI and machine-learning technologies to help media companies navigate the next wave of industry-wide change, and amplify our team’s previous efforts to ensure overall customer and partner satisfaction.”
Google Cloud, whose competitors include Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft Azure, provides services that let companies establish secure media workflows. Google Cloud customers include 20th Century Fox, Spotify, Snap, King, MPC, Sky, Vimeo and World Surf League.
As Discovery’s CTO, Honeycutt he led the cable programmer’s consolidated IT, media technology, production and operations teams that comprised around 1,500 employees globally. He previously held various senior-level positions at the company, including chief operating officer of Discovery Networks International.
Prior to joining Discovery in 2003, Honeycutt worked at Fox Broadcasting for eight years, most recently as SVP of broadcast operations, after starting his career at Liberty Media.