NEW YORK - October 29, 2014 With the goal of becoming the premier provider real estate news, information and entertainment both on television and the web, a group of cable, media and real estate professionals have joined forces to launch The Real Estate Network™ by early 2016.
Founded by CEO Robert Atkinson, a prominent real estate entrepreneur from Minnesota, the new venture is also being backed by former ESPN Chairman and Founder Stuart Evey, who is now the Chairman of the Board. Also on the Board are Jack Schneider, former managing director of Allen & Company, a leading international investor, underwriter and broker to some of the biggest companies in media, technology, information and entertainment, and Robert Friedman, a veteran film and TV executive and current CEO of Bungalow Media Entertainment.
“Real estate is a vast market. Virtually all Americans have some interaction with real estate, whether they are primary or secondary home owners, renters, investors or they are facing special real estate needs like senior living or vacation housing,” said Atkinson. “The Real Estate Network is being created to be a trusted source of real estate information and transaction capability for consumers, not just by aggregating information and service offerings from other sources, but by creating new and proprietary content that will fill the void currently existing.”
Focusing on programming that is both entertaining and informative, the network will develop original content across the following verticals: Primary Residence, Second Homes and Vacation Homes, Investment Real Estate, and Senior Living. The Real Estate Network is a true multi-platform network, which will also offer VOD content that can be tailored to viewer’s specific questions and delivered when the viewer wants it.
“I quickly recognized The Real Estate Network as being a tremendous opportunity to build an iconic television network, web marketplace and brand in the real estate space. It has the same potential as ESPN and will revolutionize the real estate industry in the same way that ESPN did for sports,” said Stuart Evey.
Over the past six years, Atkinson has been quietly building the foundation for The Real Estate Network, creating the infrastructure to support the web business and multi-platform content, as well as securing key funding with one of the world’s leading private investment, asset management firms with extensive media industry experience. Investors, senior management and the network’s launch and roll out plans will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We have been overwhelmed by the level of interest in this network from investors and potential advertisers,” said Atkinson. “It serves a validation of our concept and business model, which is unique in the television industry. We’ve already seen proof that consumers are hungry for real estate based programming and now we are creating the ultimate multimedia platform for that content. The Real Estate Network is poised to shake up the cable industry and I’m so pleased to be working with some of the most experienced and successful media executives in the business to launch this exciting new content service.”
