Sling co-founder Blake Krikorian has joined the board of directors of FreeWheel, which specializes in managing the business side of ad placement.
Krikorian most recently served as chairman and CEO of Sling Media, acquired by EchoStar in 2007. He is also a director of Amazon.com and is an active angel investor.
FreeWheel’s products manage revenue rights management and business operations. Its Monetization Rights Management (MRM) system helps service providers manage ad placements across multiple devices. Its Revenue & Payments Management (RPM) system manages the business relationships among service providers, advertisers, ad agencies and other business partners.
Among the company’s customers are 21 of the top 25 U.S. cable networks (including ESPN, Discovery, MTV and CNN) and broadcast networks such as ABC, NBC and Fox.
Krikorian said: “I’m looking forward to helping FreeWheel expand and deepen its partnerships with the leading content and media distribution players around the world. This tidal wave of live, on-demand and simulcast programming on digital platforms provides an opportunity for these companies to not only maintain, but also significantly grow their business. What excites me is that this is no longer a future hope. The opportunity is here and now.”