Our Company

Michaels Media, Inc boasts a wealth of experience developing and marketing news and information projects for television, cable and the Internet.

We also partner with quality producers, broadcasters and related companies to find a home for their unique projects. Our partners have included HBO/Time Warner, Knight Ridder-Tribune, Pinnacle Productions and many more.

History

Michael Bille and Michael Von Ende founded Michaels Media in July of 1991 with offices in Tampa and Detroit. The Michaels, as they are known throughout the industry, have news management experience totaling more than 50 years in markets such as Philadelphia, Boston, Nashville, Washington D.C., Tampa, Hartford and Detroit.

"The Michaels" were first paired at NIWS, the News Information Weekly Service in Los Angeles that became a pioneer cooperative video news service before it merged with Warner Bros.

While with NIWS, the Michaels served in sales and executive capacities developing and successfully launching a number of products and services including:

MedSource for the MedStar Corporation. This was the original medical news syndication service. Additional services were added including Med/NIWS and Family/NIWS, both specialty news inserts,
TelePoll, a high volume electronic telephone polling system.
The Campaign Against Cholesterol, a project of "Feeling Fine Productions" and Dr. Art Ulene, former medical editor of "The Today Show." The project brought together a news series, a prime time special and underwriting by the Kellogg Corporation. The television campaign aired on 123 stations.
At its peak, NIWS subscribers numbered more than 300 stations across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

In 1991 "the Michaels" took the experience and knowledge gained at Warner Bros and founded Michaels Media. Inc. For more than 15 years, they have been bringing successful and innovative projects to television and the web:

The popular News In Motion animation service, from Knight-Ridder/Tribune enjoyed a 10-year run. Drawing on their experience, the Michaels helped design News In Motion from the ground up before its successful sale to more than 100 stations. The daily news animation feed eventually migrated to digital distribution and added web content.
HBO's Entertainment Satellite Report was developed and syndicated by Michaels Media in conjunction with their former employer, Warner Bros. All of the entertainment video shot for HBO was repackaged and satellite delivered daily to more than 120 local television stations.
The Survival Guide, LifePlanning and LifePlanning for the Nineties and Teenagers & Tough Decisions were comprehensive news and information projects produced by Pinnacle Communications. These station wide campaigns established new records for short-term ratings and revenue success behind the marketing efforts of the Michaels.
Michaels Media premiered its own news campaign called Fat Free & Healthy that aired in more than 90 markets. The campaign was written and produced entirely by Michaels Media in association with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington based non-profit group with a significant reputation fighting for a healthy American diet.
Healthy for Life was also developed in full by the Michaels and focused on women's life style and health information. Featuring national health and fitness expert Kathy Smith, it aired in more than 80 markets.
Project CO was launched by Michaels Media and investigated the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. It became a nationwide success story credited with saving dozens of lives and generating millions in revenue for client stations.
Michaels Media teamed with Cass Media to create a major new on-going campaign called Connecting With Kids, now ConnecTV. This initiative provides news programming, documentaries, printed handout materials and an elaborate web site to distribute information to parents of preteens and teenagers and a complete curriculum for local school systems. It focuses on the life style and problems teens face today.
Collective Talent is the latest enterprise of Michaels Media. CT is a groundbreaking online partnership with talent agents; their clients and self represented talent, television stations and groups. Launched in March of 2006, more than 300 member stations have posted in excess of 500 on-air jobs to the CT system, scoring several talent placements within the first months of launch.

For more information about Collective Talent, email us or visit the website.