Honeycutt joins Blackbird as non-exec director

Former Discovery chief technology officer John Honeycutt has joined cloud editing platform Blackbird as non-executive director.

Honeycutt, who most recently held the role of vice president of telecommunications, media and entertainment and gaming at Google, took up the position this week.   

Blackbird claims to offer the only professional video editor available in a browser, allowing production staff to edit and collaborate on content from home on Mac or PC with bandwidth as low as 2 Mb/s. 

• Read more: Blackbird whitepaper: Cloud video editing – fast efficient and scalable

As production teams around the world contend with restrictions imposed as a result of coronavirus, many have adopted remote working tools with Blackbird anticipating a surge in demand for its technology. 

Blackbird chairman Andrew Bentley said Honeycutt would bring “knowledge, experience and connectivity to global players and will make a valuable contribution to the future of Blackbird. We are delighted to welcome John to the Board.” 

Honeycutt added: “Flexibility, speed, collaboration and now distance are all key requirements in editing products. Blackbird’s remarkable technology is unique and transformative in all of these areas. I’m very excited to be joining Blackbird’s first-class team and can’t wait to help the company achieve its ambitious growth objectives.”  

Honeycutt stepped down from his role as Discovery CTO to join the Google Cloud division as the new head of telecommunications, media and entertainment verticals in February last year.  

Shortly afterwards, in an interview with IBC365, he said: “There’s clearly a paradigm shift in both audiences’ entertainment expectations and as a corollary, how content companies must adapt strategically to best serve those needs. A key part of that strategy is embracing the cloud. 

“Whether you’re a content creator, a broadcast engineer or an editor, an ad sales executive or in another role, there’s a way in which cloud can ultimately transform your business.” 

Honeycutt recently established The Sandy Valley Group, an independent advisory firm focused on technology, transformation and growth strategies for media and entertainment companies. 

• Read more: How coronavirus could change the way we make TV