Stephen Jumps From AOL To JumpTV

Broadband TV network JumpTV Inc. has appointed William Stephen head of global ad sales. Stephen--who has held several positions at AOL, including vice president of sales development and vice president of personal finance--most recently served as senior vice president for sales and strategy at LAT34.com, a sports Web site funded by AOL.

Stephen and his ad sales team will focus on JumpTV's own Web site, third-party sites carrying the company's embedded video player--known as the "Jumper," and rebroadcast partnerships with such allies as Telefónica and AOL Video.

"Bill is a sales team leader as well as a results-driver, with a proven track record in building relationships with media planners, media buyers and brand managers, all in the context of new online business categories," explained Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, JumpTV's president and COO.

Prior to his time at AOL, Stephen served as director of strategic markets for Time Inc.'s Fortune, Fortune Small Business and Fortune.com, and has held various positions at Ziff Davis and International Magazines U.S.

"JumpTV has a large domestic, highly engaged audience for unique sports and international content," said Stephen. "The time spent on JumpTV.com and its partner distribution sites--more than 40 minutes per user session--makes us among the stickiest assets on the Web and is of great value to ad buyers."

Of the future, Stephen said: "IPTV and Internet video usage levels are on a steady rise, and there is a paucity of professionally produced, high-quality inventory, which JumpTV has in spades. Whether appealing to the U.S. basketball fan or the Brazilian soap opera junkie, JumpTV has the inventory to allow advertisers to engage with specific audiences in a meaningful way."

This summer, JumpTV agreed to pay $60.25 million for the Broadband Network business unit of XOS Technologies Inc., which streams thousands of NCAA games including football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball and track and field events. XOS gave JumpTV more than 150 official and exclusive broadband relationships with U.S. colleges, universities, conferences and professional sports teams including programs within the SEC, Big 12 and Big 10 conferences.

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