Conrad Goetz
Professor Robert Maher
ITE 115
4 December 2011
Abstract
Mark Cuban is a computer pioneer responsible for creating Broadcast.com – a website that made video and music streaming online possible and earned him billions. Cuban’s career started by founding MicroSolutions; and ever since, he has been ahead of the bell curve. Broadcast.com revolutionized online media, but many of his other accomplishments have significant importance as well. HD Net, founded by Cuban and Philip Garvin was the first network that was exclusively high definition. Perhaps what Cuban is most known for in this generation is his ownership/management of the Dallas Mavericks – a team that before Cuban had never won a title. Mark Cuban’s plethora of accomplishments has earned him a net worth of 2.3 billion on Forbes. (Forbes, 2011)
Mark Cuban is an entrepreneur responsible for founding MicroSolutions[1] and more recently, Broadcast.com. Mark Cuban founded MicroSolutions in 1983 with little computer knowledge. Though he previously hadn’t owned a computer, he constantly worked with a “say yes to anything” philosophy. Anything his clients requested, Mark Cuban taught himself to do, and ultimately finished. By 1990 Mark Cuban was earning $30 million a year. This is when he decided to sell MicroSolutions to CompuServe for millions. (Computer Schools)
Reminiscing over radio broadcasts of Hoosier games with a friend sparked the idea of online broadcasting. Thus Broadcast.com was born. Perhaps Cuban’s greatest achievement to date, Broadcast.com introduced radio and T.V. streaming online so that anyone anywhere can enjoy college/professional sports games as well as any other content being broadcasted. In 1999 Yahoo! bought Broadcast.com making Cuban’s employees millionaires and earning himself $2 billion. The $5.7 billion deal combined Yahoo’s distribution platform with the internet’s largest audio/video multimedia platform. (The New York Times, 1999)
Mark Cuban’s ideas contributed a great deal to the evolution of multimedia. Broadcast.com featured many innovative ideas at the time that are now used by many multimedia sources. Some of these ideas include:
Continuous broadcasts of over 370 networks and radio stations, broadcasts of over 420 college and professional sports teams, 30 T.V. stations and networks, live music performances, music streaming with over 2200 CDs to choose from, special webcasts, and coverage of important events. (Internet Archive)
Multimedia that was available to anyone with an internet connection was something that had never previously been seen before. Giving people the option to watch their favorite college team online when it wasn’t being aired on T.V. is something Mark Cuban especially wanted. Aside from sports, there were many continuous programs such as BBC World Service, CNN Audioselect, Court TV and NASA TV. Giving any consumer with an internet connection access to multimedia for free has carried over to more recent multimedia websites such as Hulu.com and Youtube.com, where money is made from advertisements instead of subscription fees.
Aside from MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com, Mark Cuban has made many other innovative contributions to the world. HDNet is a television channel that broadcasts exclusively in HD format (1080i). HDNet airs music, documentaries, T.V. shows, and sports such as the NHL, NCAA college football, and NCAA college basketball. (HDNet) HDNet caught the attention of many companies including 2929 Entertainment, which is a media company owned by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner with holdings in television and film production. (2929 Entertainment) The company owns the Landmark Theater chain which is known for being the largest art house theater chain in the U.S. Landmark Theaters mostly shows classic, foreign, and independent films, but it does offer some mainstream productions as well as gourmet desserts and coffee sold by the concession stands. (About Landmark Theatres)
The Landmark Theater is only one aspect of 2929 Entertainment. 2929 also owns Magnolia Pictures[2] and the rights to several T.V. shows such as Sex and the City, Star Search, and Hogan’s Heroes. Magnolia produces through 2929 productions and HDNet Films. Some of the films include The Road, Bubble, and Turistas. (2929 Entertainment)
Mark Cuban is known widely for owning the Dallas Mavericks franchise. On January 4, 2000, Cuban purchased NBA’s Dallas Mavericks for $285 million. Statistically, before Cuban owned the Mavericks they won 40% of their games. 10 years after Cuban’s management, the Mavericks have a 69% win percentage, made it to the finals in 2006 and 2011, and won their first NBA title in the 2011 finals. (Falgoust, 2011)
Mark Cuban started MicroSolutions without even owning a computer and eventually founded HDNet and Broadcast.com as well. He is a co-owner alongside Todd Wagner of 2929 Entertainment, and also invests in startup companies such as Mahalo, motionloft.com, Filesanywhere.com, 140Fire.com, JungleCents.com, and Naked Pizza. (Schawbel, 2011) That is an impressive résumé. On November 19th, 2011, Cuban published “How to Win at the Sport of Business”, a book containing a collection of his blog posts from his own personal site, BlogMaverick.com[3]. The book chronologically orders his relevant blog posts to tell his own personal “Rags to Riches” story, as well as talks about dealing with harsh economic times and interacting with customers effectively. (DiversionBooks, 2011) Mark Cuban has changed the entertainment world with a “say yes to anything” policy and hard work, and ranks among the most innovative and successful businessman in the world.
References
2929 Entertainment. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2929_Entertainment
About Landmark Theatres. (n.d.). Retrieved from Landmark Theatres: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/AboutLandmark/AboutIndex.htm
Computer Schools. (n.d.). Mark Cuban. Retrieved from Computer Schools: http://www.computer-schools.us/Mark-Cuban.htm
DiversionBooks. (2011, November 22). How to Win at the Sport of Business. Retrieved from DiversionBooks, an ePublisher that Empowers Authors: http://www.diversionbooks.com/how-win-sport-business
Falgoust, J. M. (2011, June 14). How the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA title. Retrieved from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2011-06-13-mavericks-win-nba-title_n.htm
Forbes. (2011, September). Mark Cuban. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-cuban/
HDNet. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDNet
Internet Archive. (n.d.). About broadcast.com. Retrieved from Internet Archive: http://web.archive.org/web/19981201183119/http:/broadcast.com/about/
Mark Cuban. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cuban
Schawbel, D. (2011, November 20). How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/11/20/how-to-win-at-the-sport-of-business-by-mark-cuban/
The New York Times. (1999, April 02). Deal Makes Yahoo a Multimedia Service. Retrieved from NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/02/business/deal-makes-yahoo-a-multimedia-service.html?src=pm
Words: 1,113
[1] MicroSolutions was a software reseller and systems integrator until it was sold to CompuServe in 1990.
[2] Magnolia Pictures is a film distribution company that specializes in independent and foreign films. Some of their releases include: Ong-Bak: Muay Tai Warrior, Food, Inc., and Bubble.
[3] BlogMaverick.com is Mark Cuban’s personally weblog or blog where he shares his thoughts on the government, taxes, politics, business, laws, sports, and other important and controversial subjects. Almost 5,000 people follow his blog, but many more simply read it, due to his valuable insight on business and the world.
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