A Visit to INdTV

Last week some of the local DC applicants to the new INdTV digital cable startup met at the Noc Noc's on Haight Street, to have more discussions of how we can make TV better. Smith Forte and Robin Sloan, two honest-to-goodness actual employees of INdTV were kind enough to join us, and told us we could drop by and check out the new space. Today I took them up on the offer, and below you can see some pictures I took.

After Eugenie let me in, Smith was kind enough to offer me a bottle of water from the company fridge, and I oohed and ahhed over the open air space, hard wood floors, and bare brick walls. The downstairs has the makings of a large cafe, and there is talk of putting a control room in front of the window and letting the lobby be open to the public upon occaison. As we were about to go upstairs, a small tow haired child was knocking on the front door, and Smith opened it for him, asking him and his mother if there was someone in particular the little boy was looking for. The mother bashfully explained that they were just walking by when the child took a fancy to his own reflection, and Smith offered the little boy some juice, but the boy bashfully declined. INdTV's youngest fan?

Besides the people pictured (Annie, Ezra, Allison , Jamie, and Eugenie) I also met Joanna Drake Earl, the head of the web department, and caught a glimpse of Joel Hyatt. Annie, Robin and I talked about the advantages of starting out with an existing digital cable channel among other things. Smith, Robin and I talked about creating workable structures for citizen journalism and bringing audience participation to entirely new levels. All in all, it was pretty exciting. Thanks guys!