Turner Takes To Internet With ACC Select, Other Services

ACC Select Part Of Turner’s Foray Into Internet Ventures

Turner Broadcasting has set up a “small team to develop more Web businesses,” and the company’s management has given the group “broad license to experiment,” according to Matthew Karnitschnig of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. In recent months, the team has launched ACC Select, a subscription site airing ACC sporting events; CNN Pipeline, a subscription-based online news video service; and Very Funny Ads, which airs humorous TV commercials. The company later this month plans to launch SuperDeluxe, a site with original short-form comedy clips. Turner Entertainment Group President Mark Lazarus: “We’re building businesses outside our core that allow us to compete for other pools of money.” Karnitschnig reports Turner’s cable nets “are performing better than those of many rivals,” but have seen a “gradual decline in cable advertising growth to just 3% in the first nine months of 2006 from more than 25% annually a decade ago.” Turner expects total Web revenue to grow “about 30% annually on average through 2010.” Lazarus: “Not all of these sites are going to generate five million unique visitors a month. But if we can build a few businesses to get to that point, then we’re doing pretty well.”

SELECT COMFORT: With ACC Select, the Turner team “wanted to see if it would be possible to film college athletic events and create a ‘TV-like experience’ on the Web on a production budget of $1,000 per game,” with the idea of focusing on “sports that aren’t covered by broadcast and cable networks but have a small and loyal following.” The service launched in September and now airs about 100 live events per month at a cost of about $1,200 per game. Users pay $5.95 per month or $3.95 per game. Turner would not disclose how many subscribers it has, but execs said that the service is averaging “a couple of hundred viewers per event with popular basketball games drawing a couple thousand viewers” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/4).