Revision3

Revision3

Type	Private
Industry	Technology
Founded	Los Angeles, California, U.S. (2005)
Founder(s)	Jay Adelson David Prager Kevin Rose
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people	Jay Adelson (Chairman) Jim Louderback (CEO)
Products	Video podcasts
Owner(s)	Discovery Communications
Employees	35
Website	http://www.revision3.com

Revision3 is a San Francisco based Internet television network that creates, produces and distributes web television shows on niche topics.

The company name refers to the evolution of video programming, according to founders Jay Adelson and David Prager, starting with standard terrestrial broadcast television as ground zero. 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, broadband enable mass, loyal audience to shift to on-demand, niche content.^[1]

Shows

Production and Distribution

Some of the shows are produced and owned by Revision3 however most of Rev3's shows are produced independently. Revision3 only handles the distribution and marketing aspects of these shows and does not produce the content. In February 2008 Revision3 completed work on its own studio where their own shows are recorded.

The shows are distributed through a wide range of platforms and distribution partners, including Virgin America's in-flight entertainment system, CNET TV, iTunes, BitTorrent, YouTube, PyroTV, Miro, TiVo, and Zune. The shows are also distributed in wide variety of formats, including QuickTime, Windows Media Video and Xvid. An embeddable Flash/HTML5 player is also available. Revision3 utilizes BitGravity's content delivery network for the distribution of the shows video files.^[2] In September 2011, Revision3 programming began to air on cable television on the rebranded YouToo TV, the former American Life Network.

Programming

The following table gives an overview of the programming Revision3 provides.

Notes

• Revision3 splits its content into unique verticals for different categories and creates original content for them. One is Rev3Games which provides more in-depth gaming coverage than its unique shows do. They have also created Rev3Tech for its tech coverage, though it doesn't feature original content. They also say more verticals are on the way.^[3]
• Revision3 create an original show for Sony called SGNL. This advertises Sony's products in a more interesting and creative way than a usual tech advert by featuring hosts and a longer format.
• Revision3 have created a feed called "One Offs" where random episodes are posted.
• The Cute Win Fail show premieres first on Toby Turner's personal YouTube channel Tobuscus before Revision3.
• The HD Nation show doesn't include original content anymore, instead taking from Tekzilla where they still frequently discuss entertainment systems as the HD Nation segment.
• The Lifehacker show stopped production on its main show at the end of 2011, but still continue to create video versions of their "Ask Lifehacker" podcast and posting them on Revision3 as Lifehacker Extra.
• The Toasted Donut show has been announced as on hiatus since March 2012.
• The Unboxing Porn show has been announced as on hiatus since November 2011.
• The Ask Jay show has been announced as on hiatus since May 2012.

Show Development and History

The following timeline gives an overview of Revision3 shows and major changes through time - grouped into shows on air today, shows no longer on Revision3 but still on air and shows no longer on air at all.

Ended Shows

The following table gives an overview of the Revision3 shows that are cancelled or on hiatus.

1. ^ Produced by "the editorial team of XLR8R magazine"

History

2003-2006

The company was founded in Los Angeles, California by Jay Adelson, Kevin Rose and David Prager in April 2005.^[2] 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 (formerly The Screen Savers) 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.

On September 27, 2006, Revision3 launched a new website alongside new shows: Mysteries of Science Explained, Not Mainstream Typical Videos, PixelPerfect, and Web Drifter. Mysteries of Science Explained was cancelled after 2 episodes. In November 2006, the Diggnation podcast accepted sponsorship from the Microsoft Zune and HD DVD, and the March 8, 2007, episode was sponsored by IBM.

2007-2009

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.^[4] 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.^[5] All three had previously worked at TechTV.

On January 2, 2008, Revision3 announced that the network delivered more than 25 million shows and over 103 million clips in 2007. Also, a variety of leading consumer product companies signed advertising contracts with Revision3 in 2007.^[6]

Revision3 launched new website design on January 18, 2008 featuring an updated layout and additional features that were not available on the previous website. Revision3 is located in a new studio, which was revealed in the behind the scenes video podcast, The Revision3 Gazette. The network released five new shows in the first quarter of 2008, Best Of..., The Digg Reel, Internet Superstar, popSiren, Scam School, and so far two new shows in the second quarter, Social Brew and EPIC FU.

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 announced the cancellation of Social Brew after only four episodes. Previous to the announcement Revision3 employee Neha Tiwari was let go without notice.

On September 8, 2008, Hak5 started being distributed on Revision3 show, being the first ever program on Revision3 not produced by Revision3 themselves. On October 27, 2008, CEO Louderback announced on the official Revision3 blog that three shows were canceled, PixelPerfect, PopSiren, and Internet Superstar and that Revision3 stopped their distribution agreement with EPIC FU, and Wine Library TV. In January 2009, Revision3 debuted the pilot episode of a new show on the network entitled Sun Studios at the end of viewer surveys for the other shows, which ended up not being produced.

On March 9, 2009, Revision3 picked up a show called CO-OP, the first show about video games, produced and presented by Area 5 Media formerly from The 1UP Show.^[7] They stopped production of the original show at the end of 2009 and started production on CO-OP Live, a version of the show broadcasted live. This ran for 6 episodes before being cancelled. On May 4, 2009, Revision3 launched a new show called JV's World to a great deal of controversy and viewer backlash after offensive and unprofessional comments^{[citation needed]} were made by the host, in response to negative community response to the debut episode. This ran for 11 episodes before being canned. On May 11, 2009, Revision3 launched a new show called ROFL which showcases stand up comedy from all over the world produced by Rooftop Comedy. From 2010, a new format was introduced with host Alex Koll, which was widely hated among fans. The show stopped production in October 2010 after 74 episodes.

On May 27, 2009, Revision3 launched Film Riot from Triune Films, a show that creates comedy sketches with high levels of visual effects and then explains how to accomplish them with an equal level of comedy. It has since become one of Revison3's most popular and longest running shows with its most dedicated fanbase. 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 September 23, 2009, Revision3 launched a new video game show Bytejacker featuring a focus on indie games (which was since canned because of a move separating the show's original creators) and its first scripted show (and sitcom) Web Zeroes, a comedy featuring 3 guys who ironically want to become famous on the internet (which ended after 25 episodes).

2010-2012

On March 31, 2010, Revision3 picked up a show called The Game Show.^[8] Hosted by Jim Festante, Nikole Zivalich, and David "Gweedz" Guida, they track the happenings of the video game industry, serving up equal doses of entertainment and commentary (in between serving drinks). This was later dropped after its parent company, TheStream.tv, went on a temporary hiatus.

On June 28, 2010, a new show GeekBeat.TV was begun featuring as host Cali Lewis formerly of GeekBrief.TV. The show covers new technology, gadgets, gizmos, and web sites. On August 2, 2010, a new show called "Dan 3.0" began airing, which stars the YouTube star Dan Brown, doing tasks that his audience suggests. On April 8, 2011, after deciding to quit doing Dan 3.0, Dan changed the format of the show, keeping some elements of "Dan 3.0," but also adding other elements from his older videos. After abandoning that idea, Dan started posting irregular vlogs before starting a new show called 'Delicious Steak' on July 12, 2011, which continued for 4 episodes until he decided he wanted to make more of a YouTube channel than a show.

Revision3 has since re-attempted to break in to gaming content post-CO-OP and Bytejacker. 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. In a similar way, on March 10, 2011 the company behind Film Riot launched "Film State", a look into news and trailers of upcoming films, and then a year later on 2 May 2012 launched "Variant", a comic book news show.

On April 26, 2011, Revision3 added Epic Meal Time to their lineup on YouTube.^[9] The show teaches how to prepare cuisine with an experimental food palette and alternative recipes. They garner millions of hits an episode. On May 17, 2011, Revision3 added SoldierKnowsBest, a well-known YouTube channel^[10] featuring Mark Watson's reviews of gadgets. Revision3 followed this up with adding TechnoBuffalo on June 13, 2011, another well-known YouTube channel^[11] which features the employees of tech blog TechnoBuffalo responding to viewer questions, reviewing mobile apps and talking about the latest tech rumours. On 11 August 2011, Jay Adelson (founder of Revision3) started a show responding to questions for entrepreneurial, company and business advice called "Ask Jay", and on 23 September 2011, Ty Moss started a new show called "Ty's iHelp" where he reviews and recommends Apple applications and products. On January 24, 2012, Lamarr Wilson launched "WilsonTech1" a fast-paced tech news show, but after just a month he canned it and switched to a more sporadic "vlogger" format.

Diggnation announced that it would stop production of episodes from the end of 2011, which caused massive uproar. To consolidate 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. To consolidate for this further, on January 6, 2012, Revision3 added Philip DeFranco, a very well-known, popular, YouTube "celebrity".^[12] It features him talking about politics, pop culture, and world news. With millions of subscribers and daily views, the show is one of Revision3's most popular. On March 23, 2012, Breakin' it Down was launched on Revision3, a movie review/comedy show from Catherine Reitman, part of the famous Reitman family of directors.

On May 3, 2012, Discovery Communications announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Revision3.^[13] The transaction is anticipated to close on June 1, 2012.^[13]

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.^[14]

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.^[15] The post has since been removed from his website.

Revision3 Beta

In September 2008, Revision3 started Revision3 Beta,^[16] a "talent-farming" sub-network of unofficial shows headed by Martin Sargent.^[17] 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.^[18] Some shows are still produced independently and are added to the revision3 beta website on occasion, however no new shows are being made.

See also

• Digg
• TechTV
• TWiT.tv
• Web series
• Web television

References

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (October 2011)

External links

• Official website
• Revision3's YouTube channel
• Interview with David Prager, co-founder Revision 3 - Intruders tv Video