Startup prepaid television service Orby TV has announced its senior management team, led by co-founder and Chief Executive Michael Thornton. Thornton launched Orby TV, in Burbank, early this year with Tres Izzard and Carl Crabill. The company uses a pay-as-you-go model without any contracts or credit check requirements. The service is available throughout the continental U.S. “Orby TV is truly looking to make a difference for consumers who enjoy television by providing an alternative that is ‘easy to do business with’ and offers great value, affordability and transparency,” Thornton said in a statement. “Orby TV prides itself on offering a low price without promotional gimmicks.” The service has two base programming packages starting at $40 and $50 that include such channels as AMC, A&E, Comedy Central, Discovery, History Channel and CNN, among others. There are add-on packages for HBO, Cinemax, Starz and Epix, as well as for use of a digital video recorder, or DVR. “For the estimated 30 million U.S. households who don’t have or want an expensive high-speed connection, and the millions more who want an affordable TV provider alternative, Orby TV offers quality TV entertainment at a reasonable price,” Thornton added in his statement. Customers can use the Orby TV smartphone app to pause their subscription and reconnect without paying an additional fee. A television receiver with remote control is priced at $100, with a DVR-enabled option available for $200. Installation of the Orby TV equipment, which includes the satellite dish and TV antenna, starts at $150 for the first receiver or DVR. Each additional devices costs $50 to install. The equipment is available at Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. stores and through the Orby TV website. Local channels and unlimited use of the Orby TV interactive program guide is provided at no additional charge, even if the subscriber decides to turn off the monthly paid service. Thornton and his business partners are all veteran television industry executives. Prior to staring Orby TV, Thornton most recently served as chief revenue officer at the Starz Inc. cable and satellite network. He was hired at the network in 2011 as executive vice president of acquisitions, business and legal affairs. Prior to joining Starz, Thornton was executive vice president for business and legal affairs at ABC Domestic Television, a unit of the Walt Disney Co. in Burbank, and before that was senior vice president of programming at DirecTV, now a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. Izzard most recently served as senior vice president and general manager for the Airbox pay television service of ION Media Networks. Prior to that he was chief executive for the Moviebeam video-on-demand service, owned by Disney. Crabill worked along with Izzard as vice president, sales and marketing for Airbox, and also in a similar position for Moviebeam.