Apple Reportedly Hires Veteran Television PR Exec To Handle Content-Related Projects

Following reports that Apple is shooting a Dr. Dre-starring scripted drama entitled Vital Signs, the tech giant’s ambitions in the realm of original content continue to take shape.

Apple has hired PR veteran Bernadette Simpao — previously of AMC Networks and Viacom — to helm PR efforts for “content and apps related to Apple TV,” Variety reports. She will also be responsible for iTunes TV, movies, apps, books and podcasts. Simpao last served as vice president of corporate communications for AMC, and, before that, senior director of communications for Viacom.

Little is known thus far about Apple’s plans in the content realm. Re/code reported last week that the company isn’t banking on original content as an end in itself but instead harnessing shows like Vital Signs as a marketing tool for Apple Music. This would seem to be in line with previous efforts, including financing (and premiering) Drake’s Hotline Bling music video, as well as Taylor Swift’s concert film The 1989 World Tour Live.

A more lucrative content model for a company of Apple’s scope might be the bundled digital TV subscription service that it was rumored to launch last fall. That service, available via Apple TV and other Apple devices and priced between $30 and $40, was reported to include channels like ESPN, FX, CBS, FOX, and ABC, and cost consumers between $30 and $40. However, Re/code reports that these negotiations have currently hit a roadblock amid conflicts about money as well as which channels might be a part of the package.

In other personnel-shakeups-at-Apple new, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced today that Apple’s former senior director of worldwide corporate communications, Natalie Kerris, had joined the social network as VP of global communications.