Source
By Evan Hansen
17:45 PM Aug, 14, 2006
TechTV is back. Sort of.
Two former show hosts at the defunct cable and satellite channel, Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte, recently floated the idea of a TechTV Reunion that would let alumni of the popular (to geeks anyway) station post new video clips at a centralized location. The idea drew raves on the popular web news site Digg, launched by TechTV alum Kevin Rose.
Now a new website is the wings that would do just that: UndoTV. Pirillo announced late Monday that he has registered UndoTV.com and several other variations as the lynchpin of an experimental show using the web to share video clips produced by the once-thriving TechTV community.
"We're undoing TechTV's untimely and unwarranted demise," Pirillo wrote in an e-mail to Wired News.
Tech publisher Ziff Davis launched TechTV in 1998 as ZDTV, a cable and satellite channel serving up 24 hour programming focused on computers and technology. The channel was acquired by investor Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures and subsequently picked up by Comcast's games subsidiary G4 before it was shut down in May 2004. The show hosted some of the best-known names in tech journalism, including TWiT (This Week in Tech) podcaster LaPorte, Rose and PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak, among many others.
Pirillo and LaPorte hope to attract a sponsor and begin producing original content, but for now will let the site evolve from the ground up. Contributors will keep 100 percent control of the content they provide to the site, Pirillo wrote.
"The most difficult hurdle has already been overcome, in my opinion: we have an audience that is not being served effectively," Pirillo wrote. "Leo and I have identified a potential platform to begin publishing through, but an actual launch date is still in the air."
By Evan Hansen
17:45 PM Aug, 14, 2006
TechTV is back. Sort of.
Two former show hosts at the defunct cable and satellite channel, Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte, recently floated the idea of a TechTV Reunion that would let alumni of the popular (to geeks anyway) station post new video clips at a centralized location. The idea drew raves on the popular web news site Digg, launched by TechTV alum Kevin Rose.
Now a new website is the wings that would do just that: UndoTV. Pirillo announced late Monday that he has registered UndoTV.com and several other variations as the lynchpin of an experimental show using the web to share video clips produced by the once-thriving TechTV community.
"We're undoing TechTV's untimely and unwarranted demise," Pirillo wrote in an e-mail to Wired News.
Tech publisher Ziff Davis launched TechTV in 1998 as ZDTV, a cable and satellite channel serving up 24 hour programming focused on computers and technology. The channel was acquired by investor Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures and subsequently picked up by Comcast's games subsidiary G4 before it was shut down in May 2004. The show hosted some of the best-known names in tech journalism, including TWiT (This Week in Tech) podcaster LaPorte, Rose and PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak, among many others.
Pirillo and LaPorte hope to attract a sponsor and begin producing original content, but for now will let the site evolve from the ground up. Contributors will keep 100 percent control of the content they provide to the site, Pirillo wrote.
"The most difficult hurdle has already been overcome, in my opinion: we have an audience that is not being served effectively," Pirillo wrote. "Leo and I have identified a potential platform to begin publishing through, but an actual launch date is still in the air."
