IP Democracy: Slick Web Video Channel for Upscale Young Urbanites

The Wall Street Journal’s Elizabeth Holmes profiles today a new micro web video channel called LX.TV Lifestyle Television that is the brainchild of two young former MTV executives Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet. The slick channel is, as Holmes writes, “essentially a lifestyle and entertainment guide for young urbanites with a bank account.”

But unlike many broadband channel start-ups, LX.TV uses professional on-air talent and very high-quality digital recording, much the way big TV networks do. And because the former MTV’ers know what they are doing, the site, backed by $1 million in venture investment, has already landed a big ad deal with Absolut Vodka and a distribution deal with NBBC, the syndicated broadband arm of NBC.

Messrs. Hertzan and Varet set the swift pace from the beginning, launching the site in just three months. Mr. Hertzan, who helped get MTVu off the ground, knew a thing or two about starting a network. He created the concept, complete with graphics and music, using vendors he knew from MTV. The industry ties also proved fruitful when he created a staff. Mr. Hertzan describes the recruiting as “somewhat Jerry Maguire-esque.”

So, we’re already starting to see the creation of very narrowly targeted, high-quality video channels on the Internet that resemble cable television’s niche landscape. My guess is that this is just the beginning — stay tuned for young defectors from cable networks launching their own visions of what professionally produced video on the Internet can be.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on October 31, 2006 7:26 AM to IP Democracy