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Vindicator ago

Kit Laybourne working on a kids sports channel -- another forum to attract fame-hungry athletic kids?

From this 2012 New York Times piece:

The Whistle’s executives believe that their audience can be found among the tens of millions of children who play organized sports and who navigate with increasing ease between televisions, computers, tablets, cellphones, apps and social media.

“Timing is everything,” said John West, the Whistle’s chairman, who founded the media company with Jeff Urban, a former Gatorade senior vice president, and Kit Laybourne, a former executive producer of Nickelodeon. “Start-ups are innovators. And there’s a massive disruption going on in the media. New technology is giving us distribution wherever you turn.”

The programming will not resemble ESPN’s cut down to child’s size; no mini-Chris Bermans will be shouting nicknames of Little Leaguers while reciting song lyrics from the ’90s. Rather, it will put youngsters at the center of the mix, inviting them to upload their videos of backyard and organized games; to interact with pro athletes like DeMarcus Ware; to become sportscasters; and to re-enact some of the greatest plays in sports history.

It will also provide games, instructional and animated shows, and programming created from footage leased from leagues and other entities.

The venture’s investors include Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning and Mia Hamm; Bob DuPuy, the former president of Major League Baseball; and Bob Pittman, the chairman of Clear Channel Communications, who ran MTV in the 1980s. Last year, West said that the company raised $4 million from 50 investors. This year, he said the plan was raise up to $20 million, enough to be profitable in a year.