January 25, 2005
Multicast to Launch The Quilter's News Network
New network announced to serve the 22 million women who quilt.
(Atlanta, Georgia) - January 25, 2005 - Atlanta-based Multicast™, the world's first provider of fully managed and hosted internet broadcast networks, announced last week the launch of a new specialty channel for quilters, The Quilter's News Network™ (QNN™).
"This is niche marketing and specialty programming at its finest. We will have the opportunity to talk directly to the 22 million women who enjoy quilting and make new patterns available for downloading hourly creating an e-commerce connection," remarked Sue Ann Taylor, executive producer and director of programming for the new channel.
The network will be populated with three shows available exclusively on the channel: Quilter's Daily News™ - news of what is happening within guilds and bees across the country and around the world; Quilter's Tea™ - a four o'clock daily show that features the projects and designs of a new pattern designer each week, and; Quilter's Coffee™, a daily offering that looks at the latest fabrics and tools of the trade. Friends in the Bee™, the quilter's magazine program featuring quilter and author, Jodie Davis, will be available daily on the network and seen on syndicated broadcast stations as well, making for a great marriage of broadcast and broadband.
Additionally, QNN™ is negotiating deals with programs that currently air on PBS and other traditional broadcast and cable stations in order to create a second window of opportunity for producers who wish to reach quilters around the globe 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
"This will be a playground for quilters and a dream-come-true for the industry. QNN will provide quilters unprecedented access at any hour of the day or night to an endless source of patterns, inspirations, the know-how of celebrities and industry experts, the most current information and the tools for creativity - bringing all of this right into the quilters sewing room," stated Jodie Davis, host of Friends in the Bee.
"It is a new day for producers of specialty content. With the growing presence of broadband, internet broadcasting will create an infinite variety of targeted networks and channels. The Quilter's News Network is just one example of how we intend to use the internet to build affinity broadcast channels, each with its own global footprint. Our internet broadcast channels will deliver content, create community, and generate commerce within highly targeted groups that are already internet savvy," said Lou Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Multicast, the co-creators of The Quilter's News Network.
Considering the passion quilters have for their craft, the spending muscle they exert, and the fact that quilting is a billion dollar industry, QNN could easily bloom into something as ubiquitous as The Food Network. The Quilter's News Network will launch in the 2nd Quarter of 2005.