Imagine Entertainment, a film and television production company formed in
1986 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard, and DreamWorks SKG,
which was formed by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen,
are joining forces to create a new internet entertainment company called
POP.com. The new company is an equal partnership, to be funded by Vulcan
Ventures, Inc., the investment organization of DreamWorks investor Paul G.
Allen. Launching in Spring 2000, POP.com is an independent digital
entertainment company created to produce and broadcast original
internet-only programming. The content will be a mix of live-action and
animation, video on demand, live Web events, and non-linear interactive
features and games. Most features will consist of one to six-minute
episodic streaming video segments, or "pops," with an emphasis on comedy,
although all genres of entertainment will be represented. POP.com will
encourage its viewers to submit their own programming, with the best
submissions being broadcast alongside POP's own content. The creators of
the most popular submissions will be rewarded with development contracts at
DreamWorks and Imagine. POP.com will be free to web users, with revenues
derived from advertising, sponsorships and e-commerce applications. In
order to make the entire content of the site accessible to the largest
possible internet audience, computer users with 28.8k modems will be able
to enjoy many of the "pops," although those with faster modems and faster
internet connections will obviously have improved video quality. As
broadband penetration continues to grow, POP.com's programming will evolve
to keep it on the cutting edge of technology.