Revision3 was a
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
-based
multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed
streaming television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...
shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of
Discovery Digital Networks
Discovery Digital Networks was a San Francisco based multi-channel Internet television and digital cable network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. It was sold by Discovery Communications into Group ...
since 2012.
[
] The network produced technology and gaming oriented programming in tandem with traditional comedic, political, DIY, and movie-related content.
On March 31, 2017, Discovery Communications closed the website.
History
The company was founded in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, by
Jay Adelson
Jay Adelson (born Jay Steven Adelson, September 7, 1970) is an American Internet entrepreneur. In 2014 Adelson co-founded Center Electric with Andy Smith. In 2013 he founded Opsmatic, a technology company that improves productivity on operations ...
,
Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's ''The Screen Savers''. From 2012 to 2015, he was a venture partner at GV.
Earl ...
and
David Prager
David Lawrence Prager (born January 17, 1977) is one of the co-founders and Vice President of Special Projects for Revision3. He has also worked for ZDTV, TechTV, and G4.
Early life
Prager graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, Te ...
in April 2005.
Dan Huard, Keith Harrison, and
Ron Gorodetzky were also involved. Most of them were previously employees of the
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
network
TechTV
TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. ...
.
Show development began in July 2003 with a podcast series called ''
thebroken'', a videozine related to computer hacking featuring Rose and Huard. After TechTV merged with
G4 and removed most of its technology related programming, Rose and Huard were inspired to create a new series, ''Systm'', in May 2005, which is geared toward “the common
geek
The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...
”. Rose left his job as a host of the G4 series ''
Attack of the Show
''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program and that aired on G4 (American TV network), G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally a ...
'' (formerly ''
The Screen Savers
''The Screen Savers'' is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005.Fost, Dan (17 May 1999)A Day in the Life of ZDTV's `The Screen Savers' ''San Francisco Chronicle'' The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later k ...
'') on May 27, 2005, to work full-time for Revision3 Corporation. The popular show ''
Diggnation
''Diggnation'' was a weekly humor video podcast hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht. Broadcast on Revision3, the first episode aired on July 1, 2005 and the last episode on December 30, 2011.
Producer David Prager suggested naming the ''D ...
'', also starring Rose, followed in July 2005, forming the first three shows of the new network.
Alex Albrecht
Alexander Jennings Albrecht (born August 14, 1976) is an American television personality, actor and podcaster. He is known for co-hosting the former G4techTV television program ''The Screen Savers'', an hour-long computer and technology variety ...
joined Revision3 on August 5, 2005, to co-host ''Diggnation'' with Rose and contribute to other projects while Prager focused on production and business development.
It was announced on July 10, 2007, that
Jim Louderback
James Louderback (born 1961) is the CEO of VidCon, and was previously the CEO of Revision3. He has had numerous jobs in media companies involved in technology, most notably with TechTV and editor-in-chief of '' PC Magazine''. He is also well kno ...
would become the new
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the Revision3 Corporation. He previously worked as editor-in-chief for
PC Magazine
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...
, a publication of
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...
. He was followed by Patrick Norton in August 2007, who worked at Ziff Davis as 'head of podcasts' and host of the
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
show ''DL.TV''. At Revision3, he was Managing Editor and the co-host of ''Systm'', ''
Tekzilla
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012.
The ...
'', and ''
HD Nation
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012.
The ...
''. At ''DL.TV'', he was replaced by
Roger Chang
Roger Chang is a computer enthusiast and American television personality best known for his time as a segment producer and his appearances on TechTV's ''Call for Help'' and ''The Screen Savers''. He was a senior producer at Revision3.
Early life
...
who in turn left DL.TV and Ziff Davis in December 2007 to join Revision3. Chang has joined Norton as co-producer of ''Systm'' and ''Tekzilla''. All three had previously worked at
TechTV
TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. ...
.
On April 9, 2008, Revision3 announced that
Veronica Belmont
Veronica Ann Belmont (born July 21, 1982) is an American online media personality. She was formerly the co-host of the Revision3 show ''Tekzilla'' alongside Patrick Norton. Belmont was the co-host of the former TWiT.tv gaming show ''Game On!'' al ...
would be joining the Revision3 staff as co-host of ''Tekzilla''. On April 21, 2008, on the 47th episode of ''Systm'', it was announced that Chief Engineer and co-host David Randolph had left for another job outside of Revision3. On June 6, 2008, CEO
Jim Louderback
James Louderback (born 1961) is the CEO of VidCon, and was previously the CEO of Revision3. He has had numerous jobs in media companies involved in technology, most notably with TechTV and editor-in-chief of '' PC Magazine''. He is also well kno ...
cancelled the show Social Brew after only four episodes. Previous to the announcement Revision3 employee Neha Tiwari was let go without notice.
In September 2008, Revision3 started Revision3 Beta, a "talent-farming" sub-network of unofficial shows headed by Martin Sargent.
On June 16, 2009, Patrick Norton announced that Systm would no longer be a weekly show, instead becoming segments within his other show,
Tekzilla
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012.
The ...
. He also announced that he would be launching a new show in July called
HD Nation
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012.
The ...
, which will be a show all about
HD and
Home Theatre
Home cinema, also called home theaters or theater rooms, are home entertainment audio-visual systems that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment that is set up in a room ...
. It will be co-hosted by Robert Heron who was a co-host on DL.TV, with Patrick Norton, and then remained host for 23 months after Norton left.
On October 10, 2010, Revision3 launched a show from the popular gaming website
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
' ...
, which recaps the latest news in video games 3 times a week in studio starring employees Max Scoville and Tara Long. On August 25, 2011, Past host of Bytejacker Anthony Carboni started a video game review show called "New Challenger" where other reviewers are pitted against Anthony's review, whether it be from a live guest or sourced from other popular websites. They subsequently started
Rev3Games, a centralised channel for this and short bonus content.
On March 13, 2011, Revision3 announced a partnership with
Gawker Media
Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American Online and offline, online Mass media, media company and Link farm#Blog network, blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was ba ...
which would bring its most popular websites to video podcasting. This started with
Lifehacker
''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft W ...
, a show showing small tips to improve your life. This was followed up a year later on April 13, 2012 by
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
with a Tekzilla-like show called "We Come from the Future", where the editors of io9 discuss the latest news in science and sci-fi. It ran for 32 episodes and ended November 16, 2012. On 11 August 2011,
Jay Adelson
Jay Adelson (born Jay Steven Adelson, September 7, 1970) is an American Internet entrepreneur. In 2014 Adelson co-founded Center Electric with Andy Smith. In 2013 he founded Opsmatic, a technology company that improves productivity on operations ...
(founder of Revision3) started a show responding to questions for entrepreneurial, company and business advice called "Ask Jay". Diggnation announced that it would stop production of episodes from the end of 2011, which caused massive uproar. As consolation for this, production star Glenn McElhose started his own show called "Toasted Donut" on November 15, 2011, where he experiments with different formats. The last episode went ahead live at the Music Box on December 30, 2011, skipping to episode #420 for a 2-parter.
On May 3, 2012,
Discovery Communications
Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chann ...
announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Revision3.
The transaction closed on June 1, 2012.
[
]
Shows
The Totally Rad Show
The Totally Rad Show was a weekly, later turned daily, video podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...
produced by ''Team Awesome, LLC'' and distributed by Revision3. TRS consisted primarily of reviews and commentary on pop-culture phenomena such as movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s, video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s, television programs
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
, and comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s. Hosted by Alex Albrecht
Alexander Jennings Albrecht (born August 14, 1976) is an American television personality, actor and podcaster. He is known for co-hosting the former G4techTV television program ''The Screen Savers'', an hour-long computer and technology variety ...
, Jeff Cannata, and Dan Trachtenberg
Dan Trachtenberg (born May 11, 1981) is an American filmmaker and podcast host.Rachel Kurland, Scare Tactics Pay off for Cheltenham’s Dan Trachtenberg'. The Jewish Exponent. March 14, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2017. He is best known for direct ...
, the show ran between 2007 and 2012. In 2008, the show received a People's Voice Webby Award
The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...
and the "Best Produced" Podcast Award.
Tekzilla
Tekzilla was an American video podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...
on the Revision3 network (''Tekzilla'' was released every Tuesday). It was hosted by Patrick Norton and Shannon Morse, with Roger Chang
Roger Chang is a computer enthusiast and American television personality best known for his time as a segment producer and his appearances on TechTV's ''Call for Help'' and ''The Screen Savers''. He was a senior producer at Revision3.
Early life
...
(who also acts as the show's producer) as a frequent guest host. For the first 14 episodes of ''Tekzilla'', Patrick's co-host was Jessica Corbin, who made a guest appearance on episode 16 confirming she has left the show. In November 2013, Veronica Belmont
Veronica Ann Belmont (born July 21, 1982) is an American online media personality. She was formerly the co-host of the Revision3 show ''Tekzilla'' alongside Patrick Norton. Belmont was the co-host of the former TWiT.tv gaming show ''Game On!'' al ...
left the show. She had been a host on Tekzilla since 2008. Shannon Morse became the new host. On November 25, 2014, Tekzilla aired for the final time. Starting in January 2015, Patrick Norton and Shannon Morse went on to create and host TekThing, funded by Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...
and recorded in the Hak5 studio.
For a few weeks in 2008, Revision3 broadcast ''Tekzilla'' live; this was stopped for unknown reasons. However, PA Serafina was quoted on the forums for saying, "There's details and red tape we still need to figure out. I'll keep you updated". In more recent episodes viewers were urged to upload video questions on YouTube; building on this Roger Chang
Roger Chang is a computer enthusiast and American television personality best known for his time as a segment producer and his appearances on TechTV's ''Call for Help'' and ''The Screen Savers''. He was a senior producer at Revision3.
Early life
...
mentioned during one of the 2008 live shows that he thought having live Skype
Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
calls would be a good addition to the show. However, now that live shows have ceased this never happened.
Since Spring 2009, ''Tekzilla'' has had a change of set, as pictured to the left. This includes a new area with a cityscape with red sunrays (similar to the ''Tekzilla'' logo) behind it. In addition, the old faux brick wall has been painted white and has had various other cosmetic changes from the 2007-2009 set. The set has two Vizio
Vizio Inc. (stylized as VIZIO) is an American publicly traded company that designs and sells televisions, sound bars, viewer data, and advertising. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Irvine, California.Lawton, Christopher, Iwatani ...
televisions – on ''Tekzilla Daily'' they are used to show screenshots, on the main show they are mostly used to show the ''Tekzilla'' logo and occasionally the output of a monitor. Since January 2009, the ''Tekzilla'' set has occupied the space previously used by ''Internet Superstar'', a previous Revision3 show.
''Tekzilla Daily Tip'', formerly ''Tekzilla Daily'', was a daily videocast made by the cast and crew of ''Tekzilla'', originally starring Patrick Norton and later starring Veronica Belmont with Norton occasionally filling in for Belmont. Episodes were generally 1 minute to 3 minutes long. Tips are usually broken down and include various categories; Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, Mac OS
Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc.
In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...
, Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and ...
, iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
, and occasionally other topics. The videocast ended on September 12, 2013, with an announcement by Belmont.
On November 16, 2010, ''Tekzilla''s producers announced that the show would be expanded to two full episodes per week, with ''HD Nation
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012.
The ...
'' becoming part of ''Tekzilla'' and its host Robert Heron joining as a third presenter.
See also
* Digg
Digg, stylized in lowercase as digg, is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select stories specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral Internet issues. It was launch ...
* TechTV
TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. ...
* TWiT.tv
TWiT.tv, which is the operating trade name of TWiT LLC, is a podcast network that broadcasts many technology news podcasts, founded by technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte in 2005, and run by his wife and company CEO Lisa Laporte. ...
* Web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...
* Streaming television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...
* Multi Channel Network
A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to a channel owner in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizati ...
* Cost Per Mille
Cost per mille (CPM), also called cost per thousand (CPT) (in Latin, French and Italian, ''mille'' means ''one thousand''), is a commonly-used measurement in advertising. It is the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand views or impressions of ...
* Cost Per Impression
Cost per impression (CPI) and cost per thousand impressions (CPM) are terms used in traditional advertising media selection, as well as online advertising and marketing related to web traffic. They refer to the cost of traditional advertising or ...
* YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
* List of YouTube personalities
YouTubers are people mostly known for their work on the video sharing platform YouTube. The following is a list of YouTubers for whom Wikipedia has articles either under their own name or their YouTube channel name. This list excludes people who ...
* List of multi-channel networks
This is a list of notable multi-channel networks. Multi-channel networks (MCNs) are organizations that work with video platforms such as YouTube to offer assistance in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner managem ...
References
{{Revision3
Internet television channels
Podcasting companies
Privately held companies based in California
Internet properties established in 2005
Internet properties disestablished in 2017
Multi-channel networks