Officials have announced the upcoming launch of The Whistle, the first cross-platform content provider focused exclusively on developing sports programming tailored to kids.\u00a0 The new venture, which is based in New York, is led by an experienced team of sports and entertainment industry veterans.<\/p>\n
At the helm of the venture are founder and chairman John West, a serial entrepreneur; co-founder and chief marketing officer Jeff Urban, the former SVP of sports marketing for Gatorade; and co-founder and chief creative officer Kit Laybourne, a former executive producer for Nickelodeon, MTV, and Oxygen. The investor team includes Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter, Mia Hamm, Bob DuPuy, Geraldine Laybourne, Bob Pittman, and Mark Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission is to provide kids with entertaining and instructional sports content integrated across both traditional and emerging distribution platforms,\u201d says West. \u201cWe are creating a revolutionary media experience to assist kids in developing a lifelong bond with sports and fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the many challenges facing today\u2019s youth, pro leagues and advertisers are seeking to align with companies that encourage kids to lead active lifestyles,\u201d says Urban. \u201cWe\u2019ve been pleased with the interest from the pro leagues and several leading advertisers, and we will be announcing these partnerships over the next several months.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Whistle\u2019s website launches in October 2011. The new online video destination, along with a suite of mobile applications to debut at a later date, is powered by NeuLion, an end-to-end technology service provider that delivers live and on-demand content to any Internet-enabled device. NeuLion has a foothold in the digital sports market with premier sports services for the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and Major League Soccer (MLS).\u00a0 Over the coming months, The Whistle will announce distribution agreements with cable, satellite, online video, web portal, mobile, and gaming console partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are creating the next generation of sports content for kids by combining new interactive digital technologies with successful TV programming approaches,\u201d says Kit Laybourne. \u201cProduction is underway on a range of programming, including sports news and highlights, health and fitness series, dramas, history and bios, game shows, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officials have announced the upcoming launch of The Whistle, the first cross-platform content provider focused exclusively on developing sports programming tailored to kids.\u00a0 The new venture, which is based in […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[177,5142],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}