Note: This report is being cross posted from the
personal blog of Jason McCabe Calacanis who is blogging his 'loose notes' from the D Conference.
Mel Karmazin’s talk at the D Conference (http://d.wsj.com) started with a funny promotional video that included Howard Stern saying “I knew Mel when he had an afro” followed by some very, very funny photos of a young Karmazin rocking out the ‘fro and a big old mustache. Funny, everyone laughed.
Mel talked about signing Adam Curry to do podcasts, but it was clear that he didn’t see podcasting as a competitor or a major market. Mel added later on that people might read blogs and listen to podcasts but that Desperate Housewives was still huge.
Mel did a little history lesson in which he talked about how he and Viacom didn’t waste hundreds of millions of dollars on a huge Internet play during the bubble. He talked about how he instead bartered excess ad inventory in 30 companies.
When he heard about the AOL/TW deal he said he looked at his wife and said “oh shit here we go again…”
Mel Karmazin’s talk at the D Conference (http://d.wsj.com) started with a funny promotional video that included Howard Stern saying “I knew Mel when he had an afro” followed by some very, very funny photos of a young Karmazin rocking out the ‘fro and a big old mustache. Funny, everyone laughed.
Mel talked about signing Adam Curry to do podcasts, but it was clear that he didn’t see podcasting as a competitor or a major market. Mel added later on that people might read blogs and listen to podcasts but that Desperate Housewives was still huge.
Mel did a little history lesson in which he talked about how he and Viacom didn’t waste hundreds of millions of dollars on a huge Internet play during the bubble. He talked about how he instead bartered excess ad inventory in 30 companies.
When he heard about the AOL/TW deal he said he looked at his wife and said “oh shit here we go again…”
