Digital Entertainment Network (often stylized as DEN or >EN) was a multimedia dot-com company founded in the late-1990's by Marc Collins-Rector and his partner, Chad Shackley. Rector and Shackley had sold their ISP, Concentric Network, and used the proceeds of that sale, along with additional investor funding, to launch DEN. In February 1999, Jim Ritts resigned as commissioner of the LPGA to become chairman of DEN.
DEN's goal was to deliver original episodic video content over the Internet aimed at niche audiences. DEN was one of a crop of dot-com startups that focused on the creation and delivery of original video content online in the late 1990s prior to wide adoption of broadband internet access.
In May 1999, DEN announced that their business model had earned them $26 million USD in investments from Microsoft, Dell, Chase Capital Partners, and others. In September 1999, Microsoft announced that DEN was one of their partners in the Windows Media Broadband Jumpstart initiative, focusing on the creation of video and audio entertainment for the Windows Media format for high-speed connections. By 1999, the company was reportedly valued at $58,500,000 USD and included former Walt Disney Television President David Neuman, Garth Ancier, David Geffen, Gary Goddard, and Bryan Singer as investors.
DEN was slated for a $75 million USD IPO in October 1999 but the IPO was withdrawn in the wake of allegations of sexual assault against Collins-Rector, Shackley, and fellow executive Brock Pierce. All three executives subsequently resigned. Layoffs followed in February 2000. While a new executive team led by former Capitol Records President Gary Gersh and former Microsoft executive Greg Carpenter tried to salvage the company and relaunch in May 2000, DEN filed for bankruptcy and shut down in June 2000.
Video Digital Entertainment Network
Programs
DEN produced and distributed a number of programs aimed at specific young male demographics. That included Chad's World, which targeted gay viewers and included Seann William Scott in the cast, Tales from the Eastside, which targeted Latinos, The Chang Gang, which target Asians, Redemption High which starred Judge Reinhold and targeted Christians, Frat Ratz, which target frat boys, and Fear of a Punk Planet, which target punks, included Joe Escalante from The Vandals in the cast, and shared a name with the band's 1990 album.
Maps Digital Entertainment Network
Controversies
DEN became indicative of excess in the era of the dot-com bubble, with high pay for executives while not generating any revenues and very little traffic.
In October 1999, a young man from New Jersey identified only as Jake W. filed a lawsuit alleging that Collins-Rector had sexually molested him for 3 years beginning in 1993 when he was 13-years-old. The lawsuit was filed just prior to DEN's scheduled IPO, causing concern among potential investors and leading to the resignations of Collins-Rector, Shackley, and Pierce, leaving Ritts in charge. Additional lawsuits against all three resigned executives followed. The controversy and turmoil caused by the allegations led DEN to withdrew its IPO and subsequently filed for bankruptcy.
In 2014, Michael F. Egan III filed suit, alleging he was sexually assault by Goddard, Singer, Neuman, and Ancier at parties hosted by DEN executives but the suits against Neuman and Ancier were dropped. Ancier sued Egan and his attorneys, with the attorneys ultimately apologizing to Ancier and Neuman, saying the allegations were false.
Following the bankruptcy of DEN, the company's trustee alleged possible fraudulent sale of assets prior to its bankruptcy.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments