Former NBCU, CNN Execs to Launch OTT Net TAPP

TAPP, a startup led by former NBCU Television Entertainment chmn Jeff Gaspin and former CNN CEO Jonathan Klein, will launch an online video service soon, the execs said onBloomberg TV last week. The service will be available for $9.95 per month per channel (or $100 a year), Gaspin said. The company aims to launch dozens of channels over the next few years.
 
The execs said the net will be a personality-based platform for celebrities and other content creators who have a core group of followers. "This is a very specific channel for very a specific fan base," Gaspin said. The execs cited Sarah Palin as one such individual they could potentially approach. Gaspin and Klein scored investors including Discovery Comm, Google chmn Eric Schmidt and Demarest Films, in addition to investment bankers Ken Moelis, Peter Ezersky and Michael Huber. Gaspin left NBCU in late 2010, the same year that Kelin left CNN (he was later succeeded by Jeff Zucker).