Hello,
I’ve been reading booman for a few months, but this is my first post. I’ve been working for the last 7 months or so putting together a site that combines the community-empowerment of scoop and video. We call it UpstartTV. Here’s a snipit from our temporary blog – http://www.upstarttv.typepad.com/.
Thanks for the read.
The Idea:
UpstartTV is an open, user-driven web community. We are dedicated to creating high quality news, humor, sports and music content. We want everything. We run on a democratic model – one-person one vote – to
rank user submitted content. That way, the best pieces get seen by the most people. And when we say best, we mean it for all the right reasons. We pride ourselves on providing a forum for instant feedback
– and fact checking. We are a community engaged in the process of creating shows that we want to watch and news we trust. We don’t make the shows, you do, and that’s the key. For too long television has
been a force that lies to us, isolates us, and keeps us playing by the rules. The Internet has given us a way to break this paradigm and empower ourselves to take back our televisions (and our country!)
Now we just need to get together and make it happen.
The Format:
On UpstartTV, users will submit content, rate it, and drive discussion on the sites blog. UpstartTV is powered by the almighty Scoop (see
DailyKos, MyDD, Booman Tribune, etc.), which gives user ratings the power to push videos onto the front page or let them fade into history. You will control the front page. We will post topics for community discussion, but you will choose the video and the front-page content. If we make our own shows, they will go into the mix with no special advantage.
We believe strongly in the wisdom of the community, so much that we are giving you control of the sites finances as well. This site will survive off ad revenue, so when you spend time on the site or tell
your friends about it, you generate revenue for the community. You invest your time, which is as important as money, and we will treat
you like an investor. We will report monthly on the economic situation around the site, and seek your guidance. You will keep us honest. You will be our checks and balances.
The Process:
The first step is to recruit a handful of good shows, to both give people a reason to visit and to inspire them to make their own. Then, after building a solid base for the community, we will begin to allow
trusted contributors to opt-into running short (15-30 sec.) ads before their video. The majority of the revenue generated from this ad will go directly to the contributor. It is our goal to enable our popular
contributors to produce their shows full-time. This will allow contributors to improve their content, and as they do, more people will watch and our community will grow. As our community grows, more
shows will be created and watched, helping us expand even further. Yousee the picture. More people means more money for contributors, which leads to better shows. Then we will take the next step, the move to TV.
We could save our pennies and buy a network (a la Current TV), but why play by the old rules when we can make new ones? We have already seen cable networks move towards content on demand (the old rules aren’t working for them either!). Not far down the road, people are going to realize they are sick and tired of being slaves to the TV schedule.
People will demand total control over their television experience. That gives us a fighting chance! Part of this on demand content will
come though the Internet, and on that playing field, our shows will thrive. We will create better TV – better news, better commentary, better comedy. Better everything.