Former Gaylord execs' media startup targets outdoorsy folk

Online presence is robust, team's pedigree strong -- but one observer wonders whether this dog will hunt

Email | Print By Milt Capps

New lure for 25-54 males

Flushed from the not-so-tall grass surrounding Nashville's latest media startup this morning, the entrepreneurs running MyOutdoorTV quickly went to ground: They referred NashvillePost.com to spokesperson-designate Susan Andrews of the Andrews Agency LLC, who said her contract with MyOutdoorTV was at that point not yet signed and promotional materials were still being edited...

Cut to MyOutdoorTV.com, the robust website of Nashville's newest online video service. The site has been launched by executives who cut their production and marketing teeth with The Nashville Network, Gaylord Entertainment, Country Music Television and Bass Pro Shops, to name a few former employers.

A quick tour of the MyOutdoorTV.com site shows 50 or more links to video and audio content, ranging from product demonstrations, including Camo-Country and Cowboy single-action shooters, to shows like "Texas Outdoor" and "The Perfect Hunting Dog." Forums allow opinions at full bay, and a "trophy room" invites bragging about hunting, fishing and other tests confronted by "the coveted 25-54 year old male demographic."

No doubt vigilant behind the company's temporary media-blind is MyOutdoorTV Co-founder David Hall, a founder and former president of The Nashville Network (TNN) and former overseer of Gaylord's CMT: Country Music Television, until his retirement from the role in 2000.

Hall is recognized as a driving force in the growth during the 1990s of NASCAR's television and merchandising enterprises. His web biography notes that he's been in television and related pursuits more than 40 years and earned his engineering degree at Vanderbilt University. We learn that Hall also handily serves on the board of directors of the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, a group appointed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

While MyOutdoorTV is preparing for its closeup, NashvillePost.com asked local Documentary Channel Founder Tom Neff for his first-blush reaction to the woodsy proposition. Scanning the site's offerings, he declared the concept an apparently "well-defined niche," asking only: "Can they survive 'til the business model develops?"

Neff explained that he's been pushing The Documentary Channel since 1998, now has cable-system carriage that reaches about 13 million subscribers, and is nearing the end of raising what he believes will be the final round of capital needed to bring the business to profitability — a point he says will be more than a year away. (Full disclosure: Solidus Co., venture backer of NashvillePost.com, is an investor in The Documentary Channel.)

MyOutdoorsTV.com, which has apparently been dealing several months with customers, advertisers and producers during its "beta" dress rehearsal, is believed also to be raising additional capital.

Tube veteran Hall is paired with a business guy: Chris Moise, who, in the course of his own TNN and Gaylord experience, has been involved for 23 years in print and electronic media, motor sports and collegiate athletics, music publishing, programming and new-venture development. He earned his business bachelor's at the University of North Carolina, his M.B.A. at UNC-Charlotte and is a CPA.

The management team also includes individuals described as TNN's former director of outdoor programming, Dave Barton, and former Bush/Quayle presidential campaign advance-man and marketer Dave Britton.