Scannell’s New Online Entertainment Firm Receives Financial Injection

NEW YORK, January 4: Next
New Networks, a new online entertainment company co-founded by former
Nickelodeon president and MTV Networks vice chairman Herb Scannell, has
received $8 million in funding from Spark Capital, a digital media venture
capital firm.

The company has been
established to launch “micro television networks” over the Internet. Scannell
is CEO of the venture. Partners in the company include Fred Seibert, founder of
Frederator Studios, the original creative director of MTV and former president
of Hanna Barbara; Emil Rensing, original member of the AOL Greenhouse and
creator of the VOD Cars podcast; Jed Simmons, former COO of the Sundance Group
and senior executive at Excite and Turner Broadcasting; and Tim Shey,
co-founder of Proteus and veteran producer of interactive and mobile media.

"Our thing is simple:
We're audience people," said Scannell. "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."

According to the L.A.
Times, the micro networks will
feature content from 3- to 12-minutes long. "What we're looking to do is
bring an audience mentality to the way we think about the Internet,” Scannell
told the newspaper.

The veteran Nickelodeon
executive left Viacom a year ago following a management restructure.