In the last two weeks we covered the Revision3 vs. DiggDown.net story heavily as it evolved from a simple case of an enthusiastic podcast fan to a legal smackdown. Now Revision3’s new CEO, Jim Louderback (former Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine), has stepped forward to answer a few questions about the incident as well as the future of Revision3.
Wired News: Is there any truth to Kevin's recent comment that DiggNation will do away with the subscription model? If so, when?
__Jim Louderback: __We're not going to get rid of our membership program, but what we are going to do is make it a much better program for our members. It's unfortunate that the legal note that went to Diggdown was wrapped up with both the Digg and Revision3 company names, when it was primarily an effort to get the site to stop using the “Digg” brand.
Sure, the reposting of early-release Diggnation has been an issue here, but (and this happened right before I officially took over on
July 2nd), I didn't want to do anything until asking the members what they wanted. I had certain assumptions, and a direction I wanted to take the membership, but it's a good thing I asked, because the responses I got were very interesting and dispelled many of my assumptions.
So first, no, we're not going to do away with the early release
Diggnation. But we're going to change the release schedule slightly, and then do some other cool stuff for those fans those who are supporting us directly. First, we're going to deliver an HD version of
DiggNation by the end of August.
During the early-release period, we're going to offer that HD version as a flash stream only. But we'll continue offering lower-resolution versions for early download too, because many of the members I talked to said that that was a priority. Then, when the early release period is over, that HD version will be available for everyone to download.
Second, we're going to shift the release period of DiggNation slightly.
We're working hard to deliver DiggNation to members sometime on Friday
(probably Friday evening), and then to everyone early Sunday. Why? I was particularly moved by one of our forum posters, who said he couldn't afford the membership, but really liked watching Diggnation on the weekend -- the week is so busy, and the show's getting somewhat stale by the next weekend. So for everyone who feels that way,
Diggnation will be freely available, in HD and SD, on Sunday. I don't have an exact date for that, but it will be as soon as we can work out the technical issues.
In addition, our new Director of Production, Sarah Lane, is going to put together a weekly “behind the scenes” at Revision3 that will be available for members only. Finally, at least for now, we'll be bringing more bloopers, outtakes and other “making the donuts” type stuff to members too.
__
Wired News:__ Can you describe exactly what you'll be doing as the new CEO? Also, what role do you envision Sarah Lane playing?
__Louderback: __My job is to figure out how we turn this company into a profitable
“going concern.” I'll be doing that primarily by setting strategic direction, helping to focus the Revision3 team on certain core priorities, and allocating our working capital into areas that will eventually produce a profit. But with that said, the most important thing to me is that we do the right thing for our viewers -- and that we continue to add more viewers too. The audience is the most important part - without them, we have nothing.
As for Sarah, she's our new Director of Production. Her job is to build out our production team, make our existing shows the best they can be for our viewers, make sure our shows are delivered on schedule, and to launch new shows that will appeal to our existing fans and bring more fans into the fold. You'll see her show up in front of the camera from time to time, but her primary job is behind the scenes. In fact, her deft hand is already being felt across all of our shows already, with much more to come.
__Wired News: __Sometimes we get a better idea of what something is by learning what it “isn't.” So, how are you different from A)TechTV/G4TV and B)Leo
Laporte's TWiT?
__
Louderback:__ Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that ZDTV/TechTV failed (I
know, I was on the launch team, and stayed through mid-2002). So we're not going to be TechTV reborn. We're not going to chase ratings for ratings sake, and we're not going to be limited by just technology-related programming. We're about building programming that appeals to a wide range of viewers' passions - thus we also have shows about music and comic books, with more to come. I don't watch G4 these days, but I think the whole “gaming” and “laddie” TV market is pretty saturated. As for TWiT, Leo's stuff is great, but we plan on being broader than just core technology.
