![Brian Bedol at Fortune Brainstorm TECH 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Brian_Bedol_at_Fortune_Brainstorm_TECH_2011.jpg)
Brian Bedol is an American television executive, entrepreneur,
and founder of the sports television channels
Classic Sports Network
ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%).
The channel was originally l ...
and
College Sports Television
CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television television network, network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Tele ...
. 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 Classic
ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%).
The channel was originally l ...
and
CBS Sports Network
CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...
. He served as president and CEO of both companies. He left CSTV Networks in January, 2008.
In 2009 he announced the formation of Bedrock Venture Partners to invest in early-stage media and technology businesses. In addition, in August 2010,
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
announced it had hired Bedol as a consultant to help the league determine what to do with its media rights. In 2012, he founded Bedrocket in partnership with ''
Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' co-founder
Ken Lerer
Kenneth Lerer is an American businessman and a media executive. He was the chairman and co-founder of ''The Huffington Post'', an American news website acquired by Aol in 2011. Lerer is also a managing director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and cha ...
.
Bedol currently serves as the company's president and CEO.
Early career
Brian Bedol is a "maverick entrepreneur in an increasingly mature industry dominated by conglomerates",
according to ''
Mediaweek
''Mediaweek'' is an online trade website serving the Australian media industry. It provides news regarding the Australian newspaper, television, radio, magazine and outdoor advertising
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor adv ...
''. He began his career as an advertising writer in Chicago writing
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
commercials, but soon after moved to New York as an on-air promotion producer for the not-yet-launched
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
. After returning to
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
he continued to work with MTV's parent company,
Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...
, and during the summer of 1984 was part of a small team that developed the business concept for
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
's evening programming block,
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
.
After receiving his MBA from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, 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. Show''.
He was also the creator and executive producer of the
Fox Network
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...
's first reality show, ''
Totally Hidden Video
''Totally Hidden Video'' is an American hidden-camera television show and game show that aired from 1989 to 1992. It was one of the early shows in the history of the Fox television network and held the highest viewing share for any Fox program at ...
''. His other television credits include creator and co-executive producer of the television game show ''
Pictionary
''Pictionary'' (, ) is a charades-inspired word-guessing game invented by Robert Angel with graphic design by Gary Everson and first published in 1985 by Angel Games Inc. Angel Games licensed Pictionary to Western Publishing. Hasbro purchas ...
'', hosted by
Brian Robbins
Brian Levine (born November 22, 1963), known professionally as Brian Robbins, is an American film executive, actor, and filmmaker who is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. He also serves as C ...
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 Mayo often refers to:
* Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo"
* Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Mayo may also refer to:
Places
Antarctica
* Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land
Australia
* Division of Mayo, an Aust ...
, developed and launched
Court TV
Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
with
Steven Brill's
American Lawyer Media
ALM (formerly American Lawyer Media) is a media company headquartered in the Socony–Mobil Building in New York City, and is a provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal, insurance, and commercial real ...
. He also served on the board of directors of
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
Entertainment, the creator and producer of the hit television show,
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart t ...
. 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 Sorrell
Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell (born 14 February 1945) is a British businessman and the founder of WPP plc, the world's largest advertising and PR group, both by revenue and the number of staff. Upon being ousted in April 2018, Sorrell was the longe ...
, Quantum had accumulated enough stock to earn over $10 million for two weeks of effort.
In 1990, Quantum was sold to
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
, 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
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any a ...
from
Wesray Capital Corporation
Wesray Capital Corporation was an early private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout investments. The firm was founded by former US Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and former New Jersey Nets owner Ray Chambers.
The firm is known ...
, the pioneering leveraged buyout firm started by
William E. Simon
William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927 – June 3, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 63rd United States Secretary of the Treasury. He became the Secretary of the Treasury on May 9, 1974, during the Nixon admi ...
and
Ray Chambers. 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
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
. During this period, Six Flags broke its all-time attendance and revenue records.
Classic Sports Network
![Bedol and namath](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Bedol_and_namath.jpg)
He left Time Warner at the end of 1992 to strike out on his own. While working on the launch of
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
, 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 Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
and son of
baseball hall of fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
r
Hank Greenberg
Henry Benjamin Greenberg (born Hyman Greenberg; January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", or "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major Leagu ...
,
the pair raised venture capital funding from
Allen & Company
Allen & Company LLC is an American privately held boutique investment bank based at 711 Fifth Avenue, New York. The firm specializes in real estate, technology, media and entertainment.
History
Founded in 1922 by Charles Robert Allen, Jr., he w ...
, sports and business tycoon
Wayne Huizenga
Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr. (; December 29, 1937 – March 22, 2018) was an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He founded AutoNation and Waste Management Inc., and was the owner or co-owner of Blockbuster Video, the Miami ...
,
Paul Tudor Jones
Paul Tudor Jones II (born September 28, 1954) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, conservationist and philanthropist. In 1980, he founded his hedge fund, Tudor Investment Corporation, an asset management firm headquartered in Stamford, ...
'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 Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
." Bedol and Greenberg successfully negotiated programming agreements with all of the major leagues, including the
NFL, the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
. They also licensed the boxing library of
Bill Cayton
William D'Arcy Cayton (June 6, 1918 – October 4, 2003) was a boxing promoter and manager. Clients included Mike Tyson, who sued him, yet retained him as manager when the two settled the lawsuit four years later, in 1988. Cayton also acted as ...
that included many of the most important fights in boxing history, including those of Ali,
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( 1930 – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson i ...
,
Sugar Ray Robinson
Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...
,
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. ...
, and
Rocky Marciano
Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the only ...
. Additionally, they broadcast cult classics like
Home Run Derby and the
Joe Namath
Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college foot ...
Show, a short-lived weekly variety show co-hosted by sportscaster
Dick Schaap
Richard Jay Schaap (September 27, 1934 – December 21, 2001) was an American sportswriter, broadcaster, and author.
Early life and education
Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, and raised in Freeport, New York, on Long Island, Schaap began writ ...
.
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 Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has over ...
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 Namath
Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college foot ...
,
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...
,
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performanc ...
,
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a Center (basketball), center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 yea ...
,
Gale Sayers
Gale Eugene Sayers (May 30, 1943September 23, 2020) was an American professional football player who was both a halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). In a relatively brief but highly productive NFL career, Saye ...
,
Ernie Banks
Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between ...
, and
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 ...
.
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
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
's approach to acquire the network in 1997, Cablevision decided to launch a competitive service called "American Sports Classics".
In March, 1997, Bedol and Greenberg filed the first complaint with the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) under the 1992 Cable Act.
Bedol's aggressive response succeeded, as American Sports Classics never launched, and Classic Sports Network was sold to
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
later that year for around $175 million.
Bedol oversaw the integration and transition to
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%).
The channel was originally l ...
(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 digital 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 Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
, the
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
, and
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
.
Although the events CSTV acquired were not big enough for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
or
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
, 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
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' 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.
Bedrocket and Sportsrocket
In 2012, Bedol founded Bedrocket, to invest in, and incubate, digital media properties. Through Bedrocket, Bedol co-founded NowThis News with Ken Lerer. Bedrocket also incubated Sportsrocket, a provider of strategy, technology, and operations to sports rights holders. Sportsrocket created KickTV, in partnership with Major League Soccer, and helped build it into the leading YouTube channel for North American soccer fans. KickTV was sold to Copa90 in 2015. The company also created and operates Network A, a leading global, multi-platform action sports property.
Bedrocket has also collaborated on several projects including the digital destination, ''Flama'', with Univision, the first comedy channel on Spotify, Mike Birbiglia's film ''Sleepwalk With Me'' and an interactive interview with Jon Hamm for ESPN.
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 & Company
Allen & Company LLC is an American privately held boutique investment bank based at 711 Fifth Avenue, New York. The firm specializes in real estate, technology, media and entertainment.
History
Founded in 1922 by Charles Robert Allen, Jr., he w ...
to develop the media strategy and structure that led to the launch of the
YES Network
The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), A ...
.
He also was head of the American-based
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
group
Fusient Media Ventures; Fusient is known primarily for an aborted deal to purchase
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...
. In October 2010, he joined the Series A round financing of ticket management software firm Spotlight Ticket Management.
Bedol earned his
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
, and received an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from the
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
.
References
External links
Official biography from CBS website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedol, Brian
American television executives
Living people
Harvard Business School alumni
Boston University College of Communication alumni
Businesspeople from Cleveland
American chief executives in the media industry
Television producers from Ohio
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)