Press

Contact Press@maniaTV.com for media requests and celebrity inquiries.

MADtv's Bobby Lee to Host Game Show on maniaTV
June 3, 2010
-By Mike Shields

MADtv veteran comedian Bobby Lee has signed on to produce and host a new game show this summer on the original Web video hub maniaTV.

The series, The Snorfin Mini-Game Show, will feature Lee, known for his impressions of Connie Chung and Kim Jong-Il, urging contestants to endure indignities such as eating bizzare or disgusting foods, such as duck embryos or pig tounge. Those who can keep their composure will be awarded cash (Snorfin is short for “seem normal and fit in.”)

ManiaTV has landed TBS as a sponsor of Snorfin, which premiered on June 2. The network is using the show to promote its new animated series Neighbors From Hell. A dozen Snorfin episodes are planned for this summer.

TUBEFILTER NEWS
maniaTV Resurrected, Struts ‘Celebrity Rush’ Out
by Jenni Powell on March 15th, 2010

After shutting its doors last spring and then being resurrected by original founder Drew Massey (who bought back the company from investors), maniaTV is ready to get back to its roots: producing original celebrity-driven content. “Our focus is really on helping original personalities in Hollywood unleash their creative energy online,” said Massey, who chatted with Tubefilter via e-mail. “We were the first to do so with Tom Green Live and Dave Navarro’s Spread TV and we’re continuing that focus.”

“While MTV sadly continues to sell its soul with shows about Guidos, rich kids’ cribs, well-hung guys and raunchy puppets, maniaTV is unleashing the creative energy of Hollywood’s most original personalities to deliver a new lineup of Live and Original Celebrity TV Shows,” continued Massey. “Although we’re a gnat compared to MTV, and we’re still in the early days of TV online, we have dozens of personalities wanting to work with maniaTV. Celebrities appreciate the fact that maniaTV is a creative show factory for Internet TV that empowers them to produce their own shows and to work directly with top youth brands as sponsors—effectively cutting out the bigwig red-tape and overhead.”

The site will be releasing at least three new original series this summer starting with frat-brother friendly Celebrity Rush. Hosted by ExtraTV star Jerry Penacoli, he describes it as: “imagine Animal House meets Inside the Actor’s Studio. That’s Celebrity Rush.” The show is a weekly interview series taped live on the UCLA campus and will feature live audience participation. It is scheduled to begin airing in August.

Some other projects in the works include Comedy Club Live, which will feature known as well as undiscovered comics and hosted by celebrity comics such as Jamie Kennedy, Wee-man’s Wrecked, a 10 episode series featuring Jackass star Jason Acuna, as well as new seasons of Tom Green Live and Navarro’s SpreadTV.

maniaTV is also developing some original concepts, including action sports show the Next Tony Hawk as well as several other of their special brand of celebrity-headed talk shows. “We broadcast on maniaTV and distribute as well,” concluded Massey. “We are big believers that the market needs one big network for original premium shows created for this medium. So that’s our core focus.”

ADWEEK & MEDIAWEEK
maniaTV Preps New Web Slate
March 11, 2010
- Mike Shields

ManiaTV is diving back with a slate of new series planned for 2010. (In the past, maniaTV has featured live talk shows hosted by former MTV regular Tom Green and rocker Dave Navarro.)

Starting this summer the site will roll out at least three new original series, including Celebrity Rush, a weekly celebrity interview series with a frat brother sensibility (it will be taped live on a college campus). That show, which is being hosted by veteran broadcaster Jerry Penacoli, is scheduled to debut in August.

Along those same lines is Wee-man's Wrecked, a 10-episode series set for this summer featuring Jackass star Jason Acuna.

Also in the works is live standup series Comedy Club Live, which will feature a mix of upcoming and known talent, said Massey. Jamie Kennedy and other comics will serve as hosts of individual episodes.

Besides those green-lit shows, maniaTV is developing several original concepts, including the Next Tony Hawk action-sports show, as well as an untitled college-set game show and a handful of other celebrity-oriented projects. New seasons of both Green and Navarro's talk shows are due later this year.

To better monetize all this new content, maniaTV has dramatically expanded its national sales staff, said Massey. The company now has a sales presence in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas and Atlanta. "We're investing in our team as we're believers in original programming online being the future of youth culture entertainment," he said.

Massey said maniaTV has also landed several well-known names from the media and advertising worlds to serve on its board of directors. New board members include former NBC Entertainment chief Warren Littlefield and ad agency veteran David Verklin, CEO of Canoe Ventures.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
FOR MANIATV, A SECOND ATTEMPT TO BE THE NEXT VIACOM
JULY 10, 2009, 2:48 PM
By SAUL HANSELL
As we get further into the deep recession, there is particular sort of deal we’re going to see more of: baby buybacks. That’s when an entrepreneur who sells all or part of his company buys it back after the new owners abandon hope. [A screen shot from Tom Green’s show on ManiaTV in 2007.]

This happened several times in the last dot-com crash, and it’s happening again. The founders of StumbleUpon have purchased it back from eBay, and the creators of Skype are said to be thinking of doing the same.

The latest company founder to buy back his baby is Drew Massey, who created ManiaTV, a pioneering Web broadcaster that produced live celebrity shows featuring hosts like Tom Green. Mr. Massey had sold three-quarters of the company by way of three rounds of venture capital, raising $26 million from top-tier firms like Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures.

The company couldn’t refinance some bank loans amid the financial crisis, and it closed its doors this spring after failing to find a buyer. So Mr. Massey bought the brand name and some of its old programming back for what he calls a small fraction of the $26 million originally invested. The venture capitalists were unwilling to invest more money with the advertising market so uncertain.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Massey said the company had lost its way under the influence of the venture capitalists and he would take it back to its roots.

“The VCs were all about building platforms and networks, not about building a big branded business,” he said.

The ManiaTV site, which has been dark for several months, will soon reopen with reruns of its old programs. Mr. Massey hopes to begin new programming in the fall, with live shows featuring stand-up comedy, action sports and other youth-oriented topics.

Mr. Massey didn’t acquire the elaborate studio that Mania had built in Los Angeles.

Even in lean times, Mr. Massey said he could earn money by selling sponsorships to big brands by offering to weave their products into the shows.

With a few million dollars in the bank provided by Mr. Massey and a few rich friends, he figures he can run the company in a lean way until he turns a profit. He has attracted two brand name board members: David Verklin, the chief executive of Canoe Ventures, the cable advertising firm; and Warren Littlefield, who once ran NBC Entertainment.

Mr. Massey said that he wanted to return to his baby to the world of media rather than technology. He always, rather immodestly, wanted to be the Viacom of the Internet. And he still argues that he can create shows for young people at a tiny fraction of the cost of cable networks.

“This will be a billion-dollar business,” he said. “It will just take longer than some people would like.”

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
ROCKER DAVE NAVARRO TO HOST SHOW ONLINE
By Catherine Tsai, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, April 24, 2007

First ManiaTV signed up comedian and former MTV late show host Tom Green for a live show on the Internet.

Now former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction guitarist rocker Dave Navarro is getting an online show with Denver-based ManiaTV.

The hourlong, weekly "Spread Entertainment" is scheduled to debut May 17 at 8 p.m. EDT on ManiaTV.com from the Dragonfly night club in Hollywood, in front of a live studio audience.

"It's like a looser version of 'Donahue' in a night club," where the studio audience can get up for a drink or a smoke during the show, Navarro said Tuesday. "I wanted to create a party atmosphere."

Navarro already does an FM radio show, plus an Internet radio show broadcast from his home through a Web site with his blog and podcasts.

And he's already done the TV thing, acting as co-host of CBS'"Rock Star: INXS" and having his wedding to Carmen Electra taped for MTV.

Navarro said he was attracted to doing a show on the Internet, where there's no censorship and more freedom.

"It's time for people to take back what it is they want to see," Navarro said.

"I want to use the Internet to support artists and see things that are out there that other corporate structures aren't allowing us to see. It seems with satellite TV, the Internet, magazines — there's almost so many options, and we're only seeing the same five things."

Audience members will be able to ask questions of guests, who may be famous or not.

"I'm more interested in getting into interesting conversations with interesting people rather than having a band on because they have a CD to promote," Navarro said.

TECHROCKIES
Interview with Drew Massey, Founder, ManiaTV
Monday, February 5, 2007

Mania TV (www.maniatv.com) is a Denver, Colorado-based online media firm that operates an online Internet-based television network. Techrockies spoke to Drew Massey, the firm's CEO and founder, about the company and also dug into Drew's thoughts on the future of Internet advertising and video on the Internet.

Techrockies: Tell us the story on how the company started?

Drew Massey: It was November of 1998, and I was talking with Excite.com founder Joe Kraus, and we were talking about how the Internet and media, and television and how the two were going to marry. At the time the biggest thing was WebTV, Microsoft's product, which was Internet on your television box. I didn't buy that. To me, it was counterintuitive. I thought the revolution was really bringing television to the Internet. So, I trademarked Mania TV, and waited for five years for broadband to hit critical mass, then put together all the pieces for the company, and then we launched in Labor Day of 2004. So we've been live now for about two and a half years, and have been about bringing television online using it as the new distribution model.

Techrockies: What's your background, and how did you get into this?

Drew Massey: I've been a media junkie since I was a kid. My last company was the young men's magazine called POV, which I launched using my credit card in the early 90's in New York, which I grew to $10M in revenue and it was Adweek's star of the year on it's hot up and comer list. So I have a background in new media and new culture, which is sort of my specialty and what I'm passionate about. I saw that video was going to the Internet. A lot of people had talked about that is the late 90's, with Pseudo and DEN and Pop and iCast, there were a ton of companies out there who were too early. So when I was putting together the plan for Mania TV, it was really aimed at youth culture, because they are the ones who spend all the time living and breathing on the internet. It's almost like it's more than a medium, it's a culture, it's like oxygen--they can't live without it. So we tap into that and satiate that demand.

Techrockies: How are you backed and funded?

Drew Massey: We started on a credit card, and raised angel money during the nuclear winter of VC investment, and then went live Labor Day 2004. We were funded the next month by Benchmark Capital, and did a Series A in October of 2004. Our Series B was in September 2005, with Benchmark, Intel Capital, and Centennial Ventures.

Techrockies: Why start the company in Denver?

Drew Massey: Good question. I'm from Colorado, originally, which was a big part of it. Plus, the last revolution in television happened in Denver with cable, with the Malones, Magnesses, and Bill Daniels, and Jones, so we're leveraging off that goodwill as well. Plus, the entrepreneurial environment is very, very healthy, and you can leverage off low cost, very good talent.

Techrockies: Is seems like things are going pretty well?

Drew Massey: It's been great for us, in 2006, more than any other web site out there focused on video, we've been way ahead on advertising. We had thirty one blue chip advertisers join us last year, from GM to Nintendo to Proctor and Gamble and video game and movie companies. It's been a great year for us.

Techrockies: Do you feel like advertisers are finally seeing the Internet as a real advertising medium?

Drew Massey: They do. I remember a couple of years ago, I was talking to people at agencies, and they basically laughed at us, saying no one would want to watch video on their computer. Of course, they didn't know what they were talking about, two years later. It's an insatiable desire to watch TV on the computer, at least for the youth market. That's why I waited five years before I launched Mania TV after I trademarked it. Broadband had to get there, streaming technology had to get there, and it is. It's great now -- it's not HDTV, and it's not as great as regular television, and we're not looking to replace television--but there's a huge opportunity online. I'll give an analogy. It's like Amazon, you're not replacing Walmart--Walmart has $300 billion in sales. But Amazon does a pretty good $10 billion business, and their growth rate is radically higer than offline. That's the same opportunity online--we're not looking to replace Viacom, with $30 billion in revenue, but there's a huge opportunity to carve out several billion with higher growth rates. And that's just advertising. You probably know this, but there's an avalanche of TV dollars online, more so than in the past, and the readiness and adoption level is high with advertisers and blue chip marketers, who understand the internet is a great way and a great medium to reach users, especially the youth market. When you saw a few years ago Daimler Chrysler, P&G, and General Motors were the biggest TV buyers, and they said they'd be moving their TV dollars online, you know this is not just a fad. This is not 1999, where the ad dollars being spent online were driven by venture capital funded companies like Pets.com, who were chasing their own tails. This time, it's real dollars, and real advertising. It's here to stay, and it's growing rapidly.

Techrockies: It's traditionally been very expensive to create content, how are you dealing with that issue?
Drew Massey: You're right, content is expensive. However, production costs have gone radically down. That's why you see reality shows like JackAss are produced on a $1500 Canon GL1, so there's a radical shift in terms of production and costs. Everything from the equipment, and mikes, to software is cheaper. Obviously, video editing software is more than abundant, and processing power is more than abundant, and storage now on computers is extraordinarily inexpensive--and every kid knows how to edit. Barriers have been broken on the production side, and you marry that with the elimination barriers on the distribution side, and you can see there will be a proliferation of good content. Mania TV has a product--My TV, which allows viewers to create their own TV channels and it's really about empowering those creative people to unleash their inner creativity and television talent to produce shows and shorts and animation, and TV channels and news casts, and broadcast them for free via Mania TV.

Techrockies: That's in addition to your own content as well?

Drew Massey: We use our own platform to leverage it ourselves, and we create teleprogramming which we broadcast 24/7. I don't know if you're familiar with Tom Green, we've built a platform in his house, an actual studio there. It's a great way to leverage his personality, and he gets broadcast to the Internet every night. It costs a fraction of what it costs to broadcast Letterman on TV every night.

Techrockies: What's next for whole video revolution?

Drew Massey: That's a great question. I think what's next is premium. Everyone is just getting used to it. In 1981, in the cable TV world, when MTV launched, there was still 20 years ahead of you of extreme blockbuster growth, where there were lots of cable channels that people hadn't thought of yet. We're in that same window now, and one of the cool things that will help is the funding from advertisers. The more revenues to put into programming on the Internet, the better programming we'll have. I think you'll be seeing more premium stuff like we do, like Tom Green Live, we've got a couple of other shows we're about to announce, like Dave Navarro live. So I think you'll see a lot more efforts in that respect on original and premium version created just for this platform--not just repurposing old school stuff, like old sitcoms like the Newlyweds and putting that on the internet. That's not going to do very well. It's real interesting, the real paradigm shift is when there is new, original content online. Every medium needs content created for that medium, and this is no different.

What's your view on the future of the 30-second roll? Is it going away?

Drew Massey: Besides just premium advertising, we integrate products into the show. We integrate the brands into the programming. The creative can really match brands with the content and the delivery of the message. We provide pre rolls, but that's a fraction of what we do. The 30 second preroll does not have a great future. Maybe a shorter pre-roll, like a 15, does, but what is better is an episodic 5-second, which gets viewers to stick around after the content to see what the rest of the story is. I think there will be a watershed in creative, from the traditional 30 second spot, that will change radically. You'll start seeing creative agencies, who create really original content for the Internet, commercials for the Internet, which are not $500,000 or $1 million dollar spots. People are still creating these old school spots which are really, really expensive. We're working with Adidas and they used Flash animation to create a 15-second spot, and I can guarantee it didn't cost them over $20,000, or $25,000 at most to produce.

Techrockies: Thanks for the great insights!

ALWAYSON NETWORK
ManiaTV.com Selected by AlwaysOn Media as Top 100 Private Company Award Winner

The World's Leading Provider of LIVE Internet TV Recognized for leadership in emerging technology

January 19, 2007 -- ManiaTV! the world's first and only provider of LIVE Internet TV 24/7, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn Media as one of the AO Media 100 Top Private Companies. AO Media 100 is a power list of the top private digital media companies. ManiaTV.com was handpicked by the AO Media editorial team based on a set of five criteria--innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media buzz and investor value creation.

ManiaTV.com and the AO Media 100 will be honored at the AO Media executive summit January 29-31, 2007 at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. The summit will focus on the forces that are disrupting user behavior and creating new opportunities in marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations. The event will also showcase top innovative private companies that are changing the way media is created, distributed and consumed.

"The AO Media 100 are creating new revenue opportunities in the more than $16.4 billion online advertising market by disrupting traditional media and advertising models," said Tony Perkins, founder and editor in chief of AlwaysOn. "They are innovating by applying game-changing technology to key sectors including user-generated content, technology-enablers, mobile marketing, community platforms, Web analytics, and online advertising services."

The AO Media 100 was selected from over 1,000 companies, peer-nominated by leading venture capitalists, investment bankers and industry analysts.

ManiaTV.com is the world's first and only provider of LIVE Internet TV 24/7. With 20 original interactive shows such as Tom Green Live and Daily Independent, ManiaTV.com has captured the attention of 6 million monthly visitors and struck deals with blue chip advertisers and major TV, movie and music studios.

A full list of all the AO Media 100 companies can be found on the AlwaysOn Web site at http://www.alwayson.goingon.com/

"It is a true honor to be recognized by the Always On Top 100. We at ManiaTV! are leading the LIVE Internet TV revolution with celebrity shows, interactive, addictive programming and empowerment tools for our audience. As the way people consume and interact with media changes, ManiaTV! will continue to define what's next with the younger TV generation. It is a pleasure to join the AO Top 100 community for a second straight year," said CEO Drew Massey.

About ManiaTV!
http://www.maniaTV.com

About AO Media 2007: January 29-31 @ The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, NYC
AlwaysOn Media is where cutting-edge technology CEOs from the back streets of Silicon Valley meet the global advertising and media establishment. This two-and-a-half-day executive event features CEO presentations and high-level debates on which forces are disrupting user behavior and creating new opportunities in the marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations industries. At AlwaysOn Media, our editors will also honor the AO Media 100 Top Private Companies. Fifty of the top CEOs from the AO Media 100 will pitch their market strategies to a panel of industry experts in our "CEO Showcase."

About AlwaysOn
ALWAYSON ignited the open-media revolution in early 2003 by being the first media brand to launch a global blog network. In 2004, ALWAYSON continued to lead the media industry in innovation by introducing a social network where members can connect and engage. ALWAYSON is also revolutionizing the media business by applying its open-media principles to its executive event series (STANFORD SUMMIT, ALWAYSON HOLLYWOOD, ALWAYSON MEDIA and GOINGGREEN) and quarterly print "blogozine" by empowering its members to post and share their ideas and meet each other online. As our loyal readers know, ALWAYSON is committed to the free-market, merit-driven approach to reporting and event programming. No other media brand has dared to create such open interaction with its readers and event participants.

CLICKZ
ManiaTV Goes Extra Mile for Jeep and Indie Folk Artist
By Kate Kaye, ClickZ, Mar 6, 2007
Using music to promote a car is nothing new, and neither is a band/auto brand cross-promotion. A new twist on those standbys on live original Web TV site ManiaTV will put the car -- Jeep Patriot -- and the musician -- pop folk artist Coles Whalen -- in the spotlight. Starting yesterday, footage of the dulcet-voiced songwriter en route in the SUV to Austin's South by Southwest indie music extravaganza are being shown during ManiaTV's daily productions, "The Daily Independent," a show featuring lesser-known music, and "Ten80," an action sports show.

Whalen played at the site's Denver studio, prompting execs to seek out a sponsor for a possible collaboration. Though this particular effort was not developed in conjunction with a record label, ManiaTV has relationships with both major and indie labels. Jeep-related footage will run on the site for the next few months as part of the campaign.

Jeep distributed its own "Meet the Mudds" videos for the Jeep Commander on MobiTV's live mobile TV service in 2005. That experience "gave us a better understanding of what we might do in the future," said James Kenyon, senior manager of marketing PR for Jeep parent company DaimlerChrysler. "It led us to what we're doing now."

In addition to its on-demand programs, ManiaTV offers a mix of 20 live shows 24 hours each day aimed at pop-culture and music fans. The network's Cyber Jockeys, or CJs, along with its professionally-produced music, celebrity and action sports content, and user-generated video channels create an MTV/Current/YouTube hybrid advertisers seem to be comfortable with.

A live talk show with comedian Tom Green, once an MTV mainstay, is a nightly event on the site. And advertisers are competing for the sponsorship slot on an upcoming production featuring guitarist Dave Navarro, according to ManiaTV CEO Drew Massey.

Campaigns on the site are "really integrated," said Sacha Xavier, regional lead, advanced marketing solutions at Avenue A/Razorfish, which will launch a campaign later this month on the site for its client Verizon. The effort will center on an action hero theme, allowing users to create their own avatars. Part of several campaign-related scenarios, ManiaTV CJs will interview Verizon's action mascot and make their own action hero movies.

Verizon also just launched an exclusive sponsorship of ManiaTV show "Rapper's D Lite" to promote its Verizon Beat Box Mixer Web site. The advertiser uses the site for branding efforts and to test emerging marketing tactics, said Xavier.

As part of its goal to become a broadband media brand in its own rite, Verizon also does integrated campaigns on MSN's in-game ad network Massive and Heavy.com. Still, Xavier considers the content produced by ManiaTV to be "really kosher" compared to the more risqué clips seen on Heavy, or other user-generated video sharing sites like MySpace or YouTube. Since ManiaTV began allowing users to create their own video channels on the site, though, there is certainly a variety of content there that advertisers might not be interested in sponsoring.

According to Comscore, ManiaTV drew 3.1 million unique visitors in December 2006.

In addition to Jeep and Verizon, advertisers including GM, Procter and Gamble, Amp'd Mobile and Best Buy have been seen on ManiaTV. Old Spice, Hyundai and Nintendo are among current sponsors of Mania-produced shows.

Online publishers such as AtomFilms, About.com, Hearst Magazines and Hachette Filipacchi are ramping up original video in the hopes of attracting advertisers to quality video content reaching niche audiences.

Sponsorship bumpers, display ads and mid-roll video ads complement plugs for advertisers by ManiaTV's CJs, who may wear an advertisers' shoes or emerge from the trunk of a sponsor's vehicle. Xavier, told ClickZ News she's even seen CJs point to an ad banner and tell viewers to click on it.

"The CJs are willing to do anything," she said.

USA TODAY
ManiaTV starts a frenzy
April 25, 2005
By Catherine Tsai, The Associated Press
DENVER — Venture capitalists told Drew Massey, founder of the 1990s young men's magazine P.O.V., that old media was dead and he believed them. Five years after he sold P.O.V., Massey jumped into the battle for the entertainment dollar with an Internet company aimed at college students and twentysomethings that serves up film clips, music videos and chatter 24 hours a day.

[Announcer Christy Kruzick does her show from the back of a school bus converted into the control room of ManiaTV.com.]

Think early MTV, only this time it's "broadcast" live online for worldwide audiences.

"The whole mission is to do with Internet TV what Ted Turner did with cable," said Massey, 35.

In August, ManiaTV went live from a 15,000 square foot warehouse in Denver with a roster of green "cyberjockeys" or CJs, recruited mostly through craigslist.org and hired more on personality and looks than experience. The production booth was put in an old school bus.

"It's like any new technology. You don't know what's going to work until you flip the switch," said Gregg Champion, vice president of programming. "We flipped the switch and the damn thing worked. That was scary."

Viewers can watch a somewhat grainy, halting feed from ManiaTV's Web site, or pull up a smaller pop-up window to keep on their screens as they surf the Web, chat live with CJs, who will rearrange their playlists to fit in instant requests, and ask for videos from a vault.

Massey envisions office workers and students watching while looking like they're working on their computers. An on-demand channel launches in May.

ManiaTV.com had 1 million viewers in February and has been doubling its audience each month, Massey said.

He won't disclose monthly revenues but says monthly expenses are roughly $500,000 for the 65-employee outfit with about 125 "campus maniacs" (students who earn stipends to spread the word at 300 U.S. colleges) and representatives in seven U.S. cities.

He says he expects to turn a profit in 12 months, unless ManiaTV spends more on investment and growth.

The advisory board includes director John Singleton, Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard and eBags co-founder Jon Nordmark, who credits Massey with getting ManiaTV off the ground for just $2 million of the $5 million raised.

Massey trademarked the ManiaTV name some 7 years ago, but waited to launch the venture until technology for showing videos online improved and until there were 20 million broadband users, the same number of cable subscribers when MTV was launched more than 20 years ago.

Still, ManiaTV faces competition from the slew of music channels on regular television, and online powerhouses like Yahoo Inc. are boosting entertainment offerings.

"There's also an awful lot of people out there producing, from VH1 to Fuse. There's not people demanding more," Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff said. "Now there's also video on demand, where you can get a lineup of whatever videos you want to see. That's the direction things are going: Program your own channel."

MTV plans to do just that with the broadband channel "MTV Overdrive," which launches Monday (April 25) with a mix of news and entertainment programming, its own studio and advertisers including Microsoft and Procter & Gamble.

ManiaTV's principals say their service differs in that viewers control the network, calling in, e-mailing requests, sending in short films and appearing on air via webcam.

The show MySpace Mixtape even picks viewers to host a one-time, one-hour show with their own video lineup.

"It's an interesting question about whether people will want to watch on their computers," Bernoff said. "If you look at the segment of people who use computers as TV sets, it's all college students. So it is a good place to start."

CJs like Tre Rudig personify the audience ManiaTV wants. He loves music, hasn't watched MTV in years and spends all day on the Internet. The twentysomething Rudig, who wants to become the David Letterman of Internet TV, left jobs teaching and coaching for what he calls a "dream job" of working on Web design for ManiaTV and as a cyberjockey.

The company is anything but buttondown.

It hosts Friday happy hours for employees, lets staff skp work to go to concerts, and keeps a foosball table and huge beanbag in the office. CJ Christy Kruzick said it felt like Christmas going to the South by Southwest music festival for ManiaTV!

"It was like the best four days of my life," she said. "It was like the mother ship calling me home."

So far, advertisers include Dodge, the Navy and Norelco, and ManiaTV may benefit from a growing appetite for online video advertising.

While advertisers can reach any demographic via the Internet, the market is particularly strong for 18-to-34-year-olds, said Michael Zimbalist, president of the Online Publishers Association.

"If you want to reach active young men, it's a great place to find them," Zimbalist said.

P.O.V. and ManiaTV weren't Massey's first ventures.

Before studying economics and finance at Boston College, Massey spent a summer asking businesses to offer coupons for a self-made coupon book. He gathered 73 coupons, copied them into books and sold them.

"It paid for my freshman year in college," said Massey, who grew up in Fort Collins.

He maintains ManiaTV is where he'll be for the next 20 years.

"It takes a couple decades to deliver a revolution."