VC-backed venture leverages State-funded TV programs

Barter deal is designed for business revenue and higher visibility for Tennessee

Email | Print By Milt Capps

New hooks for Tennessee

MyOutdoorTV.com, the Franklin-based online venture backed by Voyent Partners, Claritas Capital and five other outside investors, has relaunched a souped-up commercial website featuring state-funded video content.

"Tennessee's Wild Side," an outdoors program produced by the non-profit Renaissance Center at Dickson is now running as streaming video on MyOutdoorTV.com. The shows have previously aired on the state's public-television stations, including Nashville Public Television.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency provides $450,000 each year to Renaissance Center for each year's batch of 13 "Wild Side" programs. The initiative is now in its seventh year, during which the state has provided about $3.1 million.

TWRA Education and Information Chief Don King told NashvillePost.com this morning that in exchange for exposing online visitors to Tennessee's wildlife and tourism assets, MyOutdoorTV.com is free to sell advertising that appears with each video.

During an interview with NashvillePost.com, MyOutdoor.com CEO Chris Moise declined to discuss projected revenue the company will obtain from such advertising, saying rates are negotiated confidentially with each prospective advertiser. He said that, as with broadcast television, ad rates vary with viewership achieved.

Moise said that since the relaunch of the site Friday, traffic has been building steadily, including strong international traffic. He said that among the seven states that have video streaming on the site today, Tennessee is getting the greatest number of visitors.

As previously reported by NashvillePost.com, Moise is part of a management team that launched the online venture after careers with such notables as Gaylord Entertainment and Country Music Television, among others.

King noted the Tennessee chapter of the Nature Conservancy also contributes $50,000 per year directly to a TWRA-affiliated foundation, in consideration of the agency's efforts, incuding the development of video programming. The foundation is apparently free to use the Conservancy's contribution as it sees fit. Meanwhile, this morning a reporter found that the work of the Conservancy was the subject of a "Wild Side" report airing on MyOutdoorTV.com.

King said the barter deal was brokered by officials of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, after MyOutdoorTV executives proposed the arrangement, which King said is similar to deals the media company has cut with a dozen other states, thus far.