Scannell Venture Gets $8M from Spark
About one year after he left Viacom’s MTV Networks, where he was vice chairman, Herb Scannell resurfaced as CEO of Next New Networks, a new company planning to develop broadband “micro television networks” and armed with $8 million in series-A funding from Spark Capital.
Other partners in the company include Fred Seibert, founder of Frederator Studios and the original creative director of MTV; Emil Rensing, an original member of the AOL Greenhouse and creator of the VOD Cars podcast; Jed Simmons, former chief operating officer of the Sundance Group and senior executive at Excite and Turner Broadcasting System; and Tim Shey, cofounder of Proteus and a veteran producer of interactive and mobile media.
“Our thing is simple: We’re audience people,” Scannell said in a release Thursday. “We’re championing and targeting communities that are making and distributing robust content and providing them a home base with networks built specifically for the Internet.”
Spark general partner Dennis Miller said in the release that Scannell’s team “has a proven track record and have created billions of dollars of brand value in both cable networks and programming and has first-mover experience in mobile, podcasting and video blogging.”
He added that New York-based Next New Networks has a chance to “make an impact on the next generation of Internet brands.”
Multichannel Newsletter
The smarter way to stay on top of the multichannel video marketplace. Sign up below.
Thank you for signing up to Multichannel News. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.