Harmony Channel: MTV for the Soul

[Ed Lantz]

In 2006 myself and a small team launched a cable television network called Harmony Channel (www.harmonychannel.com). We positioned ourselves as an "MTV for the Soul" with seven MoodZones containing themed music videos that promoted positive moods. We had the: Love Zone - romantic; Energy Zone - energizing; Play Zone - party time; Harmony Zone - nature and environmental; Chill Zone - artsy and edgy; Dream Zone - deep ambient; and Spirit Zone - inspirational.

For the previous year-and-a-half we had pooled our resources and hired Rick Newberger, an industry consultant who co-founded Golf TV and sold it to Comcast (with a valuation of $1.2B). Rick loved the idea and we set out to launch an HD network. Friends thought we were nuts and would never get on the air.

After changing our strategy from HD (which was loosing money at the time) to a new service that just started called Video On Demand. We pitched to Comcast including an HD demo reel with Harmony Channel ID by Brad Thompson, MoodZone ID's from John Banks, some B-roll from an earlier shoot in Alaska and a music video from my band Earth Vision Weavers. It blew Comcast away! They said that we should be an HD channel, not VOD. But they agreed to carry us. After that it took another year to get signed carriage agreement and a launch date. We were burning $15-25K per month during this time.

We then set out to raise $5M to fund the channel. Our pro forma had us breaking even after 3 years (that is, it is a money pit for 3 years). I wanted to pitch it to Carlos Santana, in fact - he did some new music videos with David Fortney that were absolutely stunning! Never got through, tho. In the end we didn't raise any capital (living in Philadelphia didn't help), but decided to launch anyway, hoping that the visibility would at least attract an angel investor.

Comcast rolled out Harmony Channel onto 9.2 million households nationwide on June 12, 2006. The programming was stunning and very high quality as a whole. Web hits went way up but DVD sales were disappointing. We were on the air for 7 months, at which time the viewership had grown to 14.3 million households. We were way too busy delivering hours of video monthly to even think of doing investor pitches. We kept cutting costs and trimming back on our editing, production and operations teams. Without funds to invest in marketing, and with a $30-50K/month cash burn, we went off the air in January 2007 - after having spent nearly $1 million of our personal funds.

Comcast said that Fear Net, a new horror VOD network, was getting 5 million views per month and Harmony was getting 0.25 million. They told us "Fear sells - Harmony doesn't." We dragged along as a broadband network and DVD store until Brightcove suddenly asked us to pay $300/month for a previously free service. Now we're thinking of shutting down the store.

I'm moving to LA in July and would love to pick up Harmony Channel again sometime with some real backing, renewed vision and management. Perhaps make it all things harmony - films, music, and art. And I have a great idea for a "Harmony Co-Creative Exchange" allowing professional artists to profit from. Harmony is also allied with my new startups, www.vorteximmersion.com and www.spherical-media.com, who are bringing this content to the dome. Harmony was my first startup - I learned a lot and have few regrets, and still believe in the programming.

Anyone looking for an awesome project? Let's talk.

I've attached a few historic documents from Harmony Channel.

[Amya]

hello ed

looks like you've been enjoying quite a ride!
i am enjoying my connection with a group called SAINT, who may just be a group and a place you would find some alignment with, and perhaps could help make some things happen along these lines.
see what you think - cruise thru the site, listen to a couple radio shows, and make some contact if you like how it feels.
mathues (creator) and councelone (admin) are both great people to be in touch with... i am "amyalynx"
http://saintiam.wetpaint.com/ - recorded radio shows are on the R side of the home page -
please be in touch with any questions, happy to help as i can
in light,
aa

[Ed Lantz]

Kewl, Amy! Ran across these documentaries on SAINT:

http://www.soulbiographies.com/category/behind-the-film-blog/main-f...

[Amya]

yes - isn't nic amazing? i got nic's permission to post his videos a few places...
he has a real gift
aa

Ed Lantz said:

Kewl, Amy! Ran across these documentaries on SAINT:

http://www.soulbiographies.com/category/behind-the-film-blog/main-f...

[Amya]

ps - you also might be interested in journeyvision tv - they have a link over at SAINT, and are about to launch a new product/tech in a big way - i couldn't begin to explain the tech they have developed...read more here - http://saintiam.wetpaint.com/account/JourneyVision.tv
aa

Ed Lantz said:

Kewl, Amy! Ran across these documentaries on SAINT:

http://www.soulbiographies.com/category/behind-the-film-blog/main-f...

[Ed Lantz]

Here's an intro to Harmony Channel that I posted on this site: http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/video/harmony-channel

[artemis]

hi great Ed ,,yeah my english are not so good but i can understunt that you tryed a lot to build it n make it work ,,Harmony has a problem n its world ! dont know if i m into the point ,,i ll be really glad to help you n myself once ,, my economy suffering n my soul too ,,gave all my life to be a very unique musician ,,at the end me n my baby X we feel very rich n proud for all that community can accept this progress of music sciene,,,,,
the only i can do is to support n offer great new music dimension,,i m making new tracks to give my best & help each other here to stand up ,, as architect of an invation i have an extra energy of hope ,,no worry ,,stay possitive n focus

[Audrey Philpot]

Dear Ed,

Just got to look at your project and glad to hear that you're headed out to LA...lots of Transformational Media people out here. Keep in touch.

Audrey

[Candice Wilmore]

This is an amazing achievement. Never heard of it till now. I'll see if Comcast in Michigan plans to carry it.