Brian Bedol is an American television executive, entrepreneur, and founder of the sports television channels
Classic Sports Network and
College Sports Television. Bedol owned CSN from 1995 to 1997 and CSTV from 2003 to 2006.
Bedol has since sold off both channels, to ESPN and CBS respectively, who have renamed the channels
ESPN ClassicESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
and CBS College Sports Network. He served as President and CEO of both companies. He left CSTV Networks in January, 2008, and continues as a senior advisor to
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
.
Early career
Brian Bedol is a "maverick entrepreneur in an increasingly mature industry dominated by conglomerates." , according to Mediaweek Magazine. He began his career as an advertising writer in Chicago writing
McDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. At one time it was the largest global restaurant chain, but it has since been surpassed by multi-brand operator Yum! and sandwich chain Subway.In addition to its...
commercials, but soon after moved to New York as an on-air promotion producer for the not-yet-launched
MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
. After returning to
Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is a graduate business school in Boston, Massachusetts. The school offers a full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, as well as many . The School owns Harvard Business School Publishing, which publishes business books, online management tools for corporate learning, case...
he continued to work with MTV's parent company,
Warner-Amex Satellite EntertainmentWarner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company was a joint venture owned and operated by Warner Communications and American Express that developed and worked on interactive television systems in the late 1970s and initiated several successful cable networks...
, and during the summer of 1984 was part of a small team that developed the business concept for
NickelodeonNickelodeon is an American cable television channel owned by Viacom. Since the mid-1990s and early 2000s Nickelodoen as a brand has expanded into other territories including Europe, the Middle-East, Russia and Asia.It is often referred to by its shortened name, Nick, a practice that dates back to...
's evening programming block, Nick-at-Nite.
After receiving his MBA from
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
, Bedol joined MTV founder Bob Pittman, as a partner overseeing television and home video at Quantum Media Ventures, where he created and executive-produced the ground-breaking and controversial
Morton Downey, Jr.Morton Downey, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format.-Career:...
show. He was also the creator and executive producer of the Fox Network's first reality show,
Totally Hidden VideoTotally Hidden Video was an American television show that aired on the Fox Network from 1989 to 1992, with Steve Skrovan as host for the first two years and Mark Pitta taking over in 1991...
. His other television credits include creator and co-executive producer of the television game show
PictionaryPictionary is a guessing word game published in 1985. The game is played with teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates' drawings.-Objective:...
, hosted by
Brian RobbinsBrian Robbins is an American actor and producer, director and screenwriter. He often collaborates with Mike Tollin.-Biography:...
and creator of the 1990 Fox comedy show Haywire. He also executive produced the home video of Hagler vs. Leonard: The Superfight,
the top-selling sports home video of the year.
While an executive at Quantum, Bedol, Pittman, and another partner, Mayo Stuntz, developed and launched
Court TVtruTV is an American cable television network owned by Time Warner through its subsidiary, Turner Broadcasting. Named Court TV before 2008 , the basis of the network's programming has traditionally been live homicide trial coverage and other criminal justice programming; however, the network has...
with
Steven BrillSteven Brill may refer to:*Steven Brill , the founder of American Lawyer magazine, Court TV, Contentville, and Brill's Content*Steven Brill , actor, director and screenwriter of films such as the The Mighty Ducks...
's
American Lawyer MediaALM , is an integrated media company focusing on legal and real estate subjects. ALM owns and publishes 33 national and regional magazines and newspapers focused on the legal and real estate communities, including The American Lawyer, The New York Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, The National Law...
. He also served on the board of directors of
Quincy JonesQuincy Delight Jones, Jr. is an American music conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991...
Entertainment, the creator and producer of the hit television show,
The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show starred Will Smith as a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in a Bel Air mansion. His lifestyle often...
. In 1986, Bedol, along with his partners, also led a secret effort to buy the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Although ultimately outbid by
Martin SorrellSir Martin Sorrell is a English businessman, currently the chief executive officer of WPP Group. He has served in that role since he started the company in 1986.-Biography:...
, Quantum had accumulated enough stock to earn over $10 million for two weeks of effort.
In 1990, Quantum was sold to
Time WarnerTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest entertainment conglomerate , as well as the world's fourth largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City...
, and Bedol, Pittman, and Stuntz became the executive team for Time Warner Enterprises, the company's entrepreneurial ventures unit. The division's highest profile activity was its purchase of Six Flags Theme Parks from
Wesray Capital CorporationWesray Capital Corporation was an early private equity firm focussing on leveraged buyout investments. The firm was founded by former US Secretary of the Treasury William E...
, the pioneering leveraged buyout firm started by
William SimonWilliam Simon may refer to:* William E. Simon, former Secretary of Treasury of the United States* William H. Simon, Columbia Law School professor...
and
Ray ChambersRaymond G. Chambers currently serves as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria...
. Bedol joined the board of Six Flags, and oversaw the company's marketing, advertising, promotion, and creative operations. He developed the company's controversial national advertising strategy that compared Six Flags to
DisneylandDisneyland is an American theme park in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of The Walt Disney Company. It was dedicated with a press preview on July 17, 1955, and opened to the general public July 18, 1955...
. During this period, Six Flags broke its all-time attendance and revenue records.
Classic Sports Network
He left Time Warner at the end of 1992 to strike out on his own. While working on the launch of Nick-at-Nite, Bedol wanted to show classic sporting events alongside the classic sitcoms. Convinced by his associates that this was a bad idea for Nick-at-Nite, he decided to resurrect it as a stand-alone channel over a decade later. In 1995, Bedol launched his "Nick-at-Nite of sports" creation, Classic Sports Network. Partnered with Stephen Greenberg , former Deputy Commissioner of
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
--and son of baseball hall of famer
Hank GreenbergHenry Benjamin "Hank" Greenberg , nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank," was an American professional baseball player in the 1930s and 1940s....
, the pair raised venture capital funding from
Allen & CompanyAllen & Company is a boutique investment bank based in New York, NY.Founded in 1922 by Charles Allen, the firm is generally regarded as the premier investment house in the media and entertainment sector despite having only a small staff .Allen & Company, which is currently run by Herb Allen, nephew...
, sports and business tycoon
Wayne HuizengaHarry Wayne Huizenga is an American businessman who grew Blockbuster Video and Waste Management, Inc. into successful companies. He is the former owner of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers and the Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins...
,
Paul Tudor JonesPaul Tudor Jones II is a well-known hedge fund manager. Having made $750 million in 2006, he is worth an estimated $3.3 billion, and was ranked by Forbes in March 2007 as the 369th richest person in the world....
's Tudor Capital, and others. The network launched May 6, 1995 with a critically acclaimed programming stunt, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, 24 hours of
Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome...
." Bedol and Greenberg successfully negotiated programming agreements with all of the major leagues, including the NFL, the NBA and
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
. They also licensed the boxing library of
Bill CaytonWilliam D. Cayton , best known for helping to manage and promote Mike Tyson early in his career, was also famous for preserving much of boxing's legacy through his efforts as a film historian and producer...
that included many of the most important fights in boxing history, including those of
Ali' was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661...
,
Sonny ListonCharles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round. Liston was one of the most powerful punchers and jabbers in the history of boxing...
,
Sugar Ray Robinson'Sugar Ray Robinson was a professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances at the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
,
Jack DempseyJack "Manassa Mauler" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records...
, and
Rocky MarcianoRocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956, when he retired as the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.- Early years :Marciano was an...
. Additionally, they broadcast cult classics like
Home Run DerbyThe Home Run Derby is an event played prior to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It is a contest among the top home run hitters in Major League Baseball to determine who can hit the most home runs. The event is currently sponsored by State Farm Insurance...
and the
Joe NamathJoseph William "Joe" Namath , also known as Broadway Joe or Joe Willie, is a former American football quarterback...
Show, a short-lived weekly variety show co-hosted by sportscaster
Dick SchaapRichard J. Schaap was an American sportswriter, broadcaster, and author.-Early life and education:Born in Brooklyn and raised in Freeport, New York on Long Island, Schaap began writing as a high school student...
.
Unfortunately for the company, very few people could see the network. Because it was independently owned and not part of a media conglomerate, the roll-out of the network was slow. But Bedol persevered, and raised an additional $20 million from
Warburg PincusWarburg Pincus, LLC is a private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has approximately $25 billion in assets under management and invests in a range of sectors including consumer, energy, financial...
to keep the company afloat. An innovative marketer, Bedol recognized the value of using some of the greatest names in sports history to help grow the network. Since he couldn't afford to pay them in cash at the time, he formed the Classic Sports Network "Board of Champions," and gave each of its members a slice of equity in exchange for helping to promote the channel. The board's members included
Joe NamathJoseph William "Joe" Namath , also known as Broadway Joe or Joe Willie, is a former American football quarterback...
,
Magic JohnsonEarvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
,
Mary Lou RettonMary Lou Retton is an American gymnast. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.-Personal life:...
, Wilt Chamberlin,
Gale SayersGale Eugene Sayers , also known as "The Kansas Comet", is a retired professional football player in the National Football League who spent his entire career with the Chicago Bears....
,
Ernie BanksErnest "Ernie" Banks is an American former Major League baseball player who played his entire career with the Chicago Cubs . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.Bank's nickname is Mr...
, and
Ted WilliamsTheodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was a left fielder in Major League Baseball. He played 21 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot...
.
The strategy was successful, and Classic Sports Network attracted a lot of attention and favorable publicity. It also attracted some unfavorable attention. After the company rejected Cablevision's approach to acquire the network in 1997, Cablevision decided to launch a competitive service called "American Sports Classics." Believing that its competition was not playing by the rules, Bedol proved that he was not one to back away from a fight, no matter how much bigger the opponent was. In March, 1997, Bedol and Greenberg filed the first complaint with the FCC under the 1992 Cable Act.
Bedol's aggressive response succeeded, as American Sports Classics never launched, and Classic Sports Network was sold to
ESPNESPN is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
later that year for around $175 million. Bedol oversaw the integration and transition to
ESPN ClassicESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
(originally ESPN Classic Sports), and left the company in early 1999.
College Sports Television (CSTV)
After a hiatus of a few years where he was primarily an investor in early stage media businesses (See Other Business Ventures), in 2002 Bedol announced that he was returning to the cable industry with a new network featuring primarily college sports, called (at the time) NCSN, or National College Sports Network. It was the first sports network that recognized the power of sports to help promote the cable industry's recently introduced
digitalA digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
programming tiers. Bedol was quoted as saying "It's a marketing tool disguised as a programming service.
Similar to the Classic Sports strategy, CSTV acquired the television and internet rights to thousands of collegiate sporting events from over a dozen athletic conferences, including the Big Ten, the
Southeastern ConferenceThe Southeastern Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in , which operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I in athletic competitions; for football, it is part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
, and
Conference USAConference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
.
Although the events CSTV acquired were not big enough for
ESPNESPN is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
or Fox Sports, Bedol was one of the first media executives to recognize the value that could be created from aggregating niches using the internet. CSTV brought the long-tail theory to the internet. The creation of CSTV led to Bedol's selection by Sports Business Journal as one of the "20 Most Powerful People in College Athletics" in 2004.
Later that year, acquired the internet sports division from Student Advantage. This became the centerpiece of the broadband distribution strategy that set apart from all the other players in sports, and established the company as a pioneer in the broadband distribution of live sports. This led to the selecting to distribute the national Men's Basketball Championship over the internet in 2005. The tournament has since become the internet's largest annual online sporting event.
Business Week named Bedol to its list of Best Leaders of 2005, Sports Business Journal named him one of the 20 most influential people in online sports, and Sporting News named him to its "Power 100" list.
CSTV was acquired by CBS in 2006 for $325 million, and Bedol was named the President and CEO of the division.
Other Business Ventures
Bedol also helped pioneer the trend of sports teams owning their own regional sports networks. As a minority shareholder in the New Jersey Nets, he was a central participant in the negotiation of the deal that led to the formation of YankeeNets, the co-ownership of the New York Yankees and the Nets. He also worked very closely with
Allen & CompanyAllen & Company is a boutique investment bank based in New York, NY.Founded in 1922 by Charles Allen, the firm is generally regarded as the premier investment house in the media and entertainment sector despite having only a small staff .Allen & Company, which is currently run by Herb Allen, nephew...
to develop the media strategy and structure that led to the launch of the
YES NetworkThe Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network is a New York City regional cable TV channel dedicated to broadcasting baseball games of the New York Yankees, and basketball games of the New Jersey Nets. YES made its debut on March 19, 2002...
.
He also was head of the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based
venture capitalVenture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided for early-stage, high-potential, growth companies in the interest of generating a return through an eventual realization event such as an IPO or trade sale of the company...
group Fusient Media Ventures; Fusient is known primarily for an aborted deal to purchase
World Championship WrestlingWorld Championship Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and his...
.
Bedol earned his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839...
, and received an MBA from the
Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is a graduate business school in Boston, Massachusetts. The school offers a full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, as well as many . The School owns Harvard Business School Publishing, which publishes business books, online management tools for corporate learning, case...
.
External links