Revision3 is a San Francisco-based multi-channel Internet television
network that creates, produces and distributes Web television shows on
niche topics. Founded in 2005, it has been operating as a subsidiary of
Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The network has primarily
technology-based shows hosted and produced by Patrick Norton, and gaming
shows hosted and produced by Adam Sessler. The network also creates and
hosts comedic, political, DIY, and movie-related content. The name refers
to the revisioning of video programming, according to founders Jay Adelson and
David Prager. The first revision was cable television, adding general
interest channels, catering to the "most common denominator." The second revision
was PC-based Internet video, independent films, no business model, no loyalty, no
audience. The third revision or Revision3 is TV and Internet converged.
iPods, TiVo, mobile, and broadband enable mass, loyal audiences to shift to
on-demand, niche content. History
The company was founded in Los Angeles, California, by Jay Adelson, Kevin Rose
and David Prager in April 2005. Dan Huard, Keith Harrison, and Ron
Gorodetzky were also involved. Most of them were previously employees of the
television network TechTV. Show development began in July 2003 with
a podcast series called thebroken, a videozine related to computer hacking
featuring Rose and Huard. After TechTV merged with G4 and removed most of its
technology related programming, Rose and Huard were inspired to create a new
series, Systm, in May 2005, which is geared toward “the common geek”. Rose
left his job as a host of the G4 series Attack of the Show on May 27, 2005, to
work full-time for Revision3 Corporation. The popular show
Diggnation, also starring Rose, followed in July 2005, forming the first three
shows of the new network. Alex Albrecht joined Revision3 on August 5, 2005, to
co-host Diggnation with Rose and contribute to other projects while
Prager focused on production and business development.
It was announced on July 10, 2007, that Jim Louderback would become the new CEO
of the Revision3 Corporation. He previously worked as editor-in-chief for
PC Magazine, a publication of Ziff Davis. He was followed by Patrick Norton
in August 2007, who worked at Ziff Davis as 'head of podcasts' and host of the
IPTV show DL.TV. At Revision3, he is now Managing Editor and the co-host of
Systm, Tekzilla, and HD Nation. At DL.TV, he was replaced by Roger Chang
who in turn left DL.TV and Ziff Davis in December 2007 to join Revision3. Chang
has joined Norton as co-producer of Systm and Tekzilla. All three had
previously worked at TechTV. On April 9, 2008, Revision3 announced
that Veronica Belmont would be joining the Revision3 staff as co-host of
Tekzilla. On April 21, 2008, on the 47th episode of Systm, it was announced that
Chief Engineer and co-host David Randolph had left for another job
outside of Revision3. On June 6, 2008, CEO Jim Louderback cancelled the show
Social Brew after only four episodes. Previous to the announcement Revision3
employee Neha Tiwari was let go without notice.
On June 16, 2009, Patrick Norton announced that Systm would no longer be
a weekly show, instead becoming segments within his other show, Tekzilla. He also
announced that he would be launching a new show in July called HD Nation, which
will be a show all about HD and Home Theatre. It will be co-hosted by Robert
Heron who was a co-host on DL.TV, with Patrick Norton, and then remained host
for 23 months after Norton left. On October 10, 2010, Revision3 launched
a show from the popular gaming website Destructoid, which recaps the latest
news in video games 3 times a week in studio starring employees Max Scoville
and Tara Long. On August 25, 2011, Past host of Bytejacker Anthony Carboni
started a video game review show called "New Challenger" where other reviewers
are pitted against Anthony's review, whether it be from a live guest or
sourced from other popular websites. They have since together started
"Rev3Games", a centralised channel for this and short bonus content.
On March 13, 2011, Revision3 announced a partnership with Gawker Media which
would bring its most popular websites to video podcasting. This started with
Lifehacker, a show showing small tips to improve your life. This was followed up
a year later on April 13, 2012 by io9 with a Tekzilla-like show called "We
Come from the Future", where the editors of io9 discuss the latest news in
science and sci-fi. It ran for 32 episodes and ended November 16, 2012. On
11 August 2011, Jay Adelson started a show responding to questions for
entrepreneurial, company and business advice called "Ask Jay". Diggnation
announced that it would stop production of episodes from the end of 2011, which
caused massive uproar. As consolation for this, production star Glenn McElhose
started his own show called "Toasted Donut" on November 15, 2011, where he
experiments with different formats. The last episode went ahead live at the
Music Box on December 30, 2011, skipping to episode #420 for a 2-parter.
On May 3, 2012, Discovery Communications announced that it had entered into an
agreement to acquire Revision3. The transaction closed on June 1, 2012.
Revision3 Beta In September 2008, Revision3 started
Revision3 Beta, a "talent-farming" sub-network of unofficial shows headed
by Martin Sargent. The project has been axed due to lack of funds for the shows
with no shows being promoted at this time to the full Revision3 lineup.
Controversy In May 2008, Revision3's BitTorrent
server was on the receiving end of a MediaDefender Denial of Service attack
which brought down all of Revision3's servers and their email system. The FBI
launched an investigation, but no charges were brought against
MediaDefender. On June 29, 2009, former studio engineer
David Randolph wrote on his personal blog about how he had been mistreated
during the construction of the Revision3 studio. The post has since been removed
from his website. See also
Digg TechTV
TWiT.tv Web series
Web television Multi Channel Network
Cost Per Mille Cost Per Impression
YouTube List of YouTube personalities
List of multi-channel networks References
External links Official website