AOL To Launch An On-Demand “Live Channel” Venture With AEG, XM

America Online is tying up with movie theater/stadium/entertainment giant AEG Group and satellite radio player XM to launch an on-demand “live entertainment” venture, paidContent.org has learned. The formal announcement is expected as soon as tomorrow…

The new venture is being headed by Kevin Wall, the former vice chairman of iXL and the executive producer of the recently concluded Live8 concert. He will now join AOL full time. He will be working out of Beverly Hills office here in LA. Allen DeBevoise, the former founder and CEO of Creative Planet and former CEO of TCI Interactive, has been consulting with AOL for some time now, and is also involved in the venture in that capacity.

From what I know, the joint venture will pool money from all these players and secure right of live entertainment events (much like AOL’s Live 8 effort) for on-demand viewing online; think concerts, comedy, clubs, other venues. AEG has multiple interests in entertainment and sports, and the idea is to leverage that, along with the online and radio audience of AOL and XM, to deliver these programs live and on-demand.
The thinking behind the venture: there’s a lot of media value to be extracted from live events after they conclude and online enables that. The live events and the first-release window, as the industry terminology goes, are powerful marketing vehicles for later, on-demand viewing, and possible ancillary downloads and physical sales.

It is possible that AOL will sub-license these right to wireless and other TV players down the line, much on the lines of what it did with Live 8 rights.

On similar lines, AOL has more broadband channels in the wings; concepts include a WB-focused video channel; a long-form video channel running pilot previews of network shows, busted pilots, long clips and other TV-related content; a women’s lifestyle channel and potentially one for kids (through AOL’s KOL and RED network).


These new efforts from AOL is reminiscent of “AOL Greenhouse”, the venture capital/incubator arm of the company started in mid-90s. The ambition of Greenhouse was to become a media company and it invested in content sites like Entertainment Asylum and Electra, but both of them closed down in late 90s. Greenhouse was also the first institutional investor in surviors such as Motley Fool and iVillage.

The new venture is based in Beverly Hills in LA. Andrew Thau, the former president and CEO of VOY, the Latino-focused media company, is the COO of the venture. Mike Bonifer, former creative head at iXL, is the VP of Creative at Network Live. Brad Barrish, who previously worked at Wherehouse Music, is the VP of content development.

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