UltimateTV was the name of a Web site for all-things-television officially launched in May 1998 in
Encino,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Originally a hobby website ("TV Net") started by David Cronshaw, an engineer at
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...
9, it caught the attention of Jeff Rowe, a Vice President at
NBC and JD Publishing, a publisher of TV schedules located in Wisconsin. Rowe, Cronshaw and JD developed a business plan, hiring James Lamb of Tacoma, Washington as their first employee to begin as soon as he completed college at
Pacific Lutheran University. Shortly after this, the site was found by Matt Soffen and a few problems were reported to David Cronshaw to fix. Because David was not a programmer, Matt offered to help by using his skills as a programmer, system administrator, and general techie. He worked with the site until it became Zap2it.
Briefly the Web site was launched as "UTV: Your Ultimate Television Network" before
United Television
BHC Communications, Inc. was the holding company for the broadcast property of Chris-Craft Industries. BHC stands for "broadcasting holding company".
History
The firm was originally incorporated in 1977 as BHC, Incorporated by Chris-Craft I ...
, the half-owners of the
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...
network at the time, had their lawyers send out a cease & desist letter, claiming the name to be too similar to their own, even though they admitted the name was internal and only relevant to their work as a station-ownership group and that the term UTV was not used in the marketplace. UltimateTV was best known for its Ultimate TV Show list ("UTVL" - based on the script which ran the Ultimate Band List) and its work for other television networks creating official Web sites, most notably
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''
Dawson's Creek'' designed b
Jon Ofstead Art Director of Ultimate Studios (a division of UltimateTV) for
The WB
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
.
With
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', James Lamb rose to prominence under the name TV James, shepherding a small online posting board community which ultimately grew to over 500 regular daily participants, including members of the show's cast and crew, most notably
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill Whedon (; born June 23, 1964) is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television series: ...
. Many in that group of regular participants would go on to meet each other in person during one of several yearly parties (PBP or "Posting Board Parties") in
Los Angeles
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' ...
or local regional gatherings of the show's fans. The posting board is credited with facilitating a number of connections which resulted in marriages between the show's fans, including Lamb and his wife Lori. The posting board software began as a free open-source perl script modified extensively by Lamb and Matthew Soffen of UltimateTV. The software is in use today o
The Fuselage the official Web site behind the creative team for the popular TV show
''Lost''.
In 2000, UltimateTV and parent company JD Publishing became part of The
Tribune Company (owners of TV stations and newspapers nationwide) and the name was sold to
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
as the website was merged into other Tribune offerings under the name
"Zap2it.com" where it offered an expanded look at entertainment beyond just TV.
{{Webby Awards, cat=TV, year=1997, type=Nominee
Television websites