Profile: Wine TV's Patrick Brunet and Lorie Kim

Cable World,  May 2, 2005  

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By Shirley Brady

Since I was already in San Francisco for the National Show, it made sense to tack on some time and catch up with the locally based start-up Wine TV. I hadn't seen its co-founders, Patrick Brunet and Lorie Kim, in more than a year and was eager to get a status report.

My original idea--spurred, I admit, by the "oenophilm" Sideways--called for a mix of wine tasting and TV talk. But the married duo, expecting their first child in June, demurred (quite sensibly) and instead suggested we while away an afternoon after the convention at their favorite French restaurant, Jeanty at Jack's in downtown San Francisco. As I walked through Chinatown on my way to meet them, I did a double take: Comcast had plastered an ad on the side of a building, with the text in Chinese.

After settling into the front table at the classic French bistro, we chatted about the impending arrival of Marcel (the name they've chosen for their son).

We decided on our food orders while Patrick, at my urging, selected the wine: a 1998 Chateau Canuet Margaux. Lorie, recounting her food cravings during her pregnancy, opted for bottled water while her husband explained that he had never tried this particular wine and was always eager to discover new finds. He also dismissed the "white with fish, red with meat" so-called rule when I asked if that had been a factor in his selection.

With our orders placed, Patrick, CEO of Wine Network Inc., the parent company of Wine TV, talked about how impressed he was with the mood and buzz at this year's National Show and about his plans to attend MIPTV in Cannes. Lorie, as the company's COO, would remain behind at their Kearny Street headquarters while her husband was back in his homeland.

We sampled the wine (which was delicious) as they told me how MIP, as the premier international television marketplace, has played a critical role in the development of Wine TV, which targets both everyday consumers and wine connoisseurs.

Patrick's Internet, e-commerce and marketing businesses in France led him to dream up the concept for Wine TV; Lorie, a U.C. San Diego graduate, had founded and managed businesses in the U.S. and Japan. The two wine lovers and entrepreneurs launched their network in Germany last September, where it's called Wein TV and broadcast 100% in German. They hired an EVP and GM, Hallmark Channel International veteran Mark Taylor; named Food Network alum Joe Langhan as executive producer overseeing production; and added former Pixar CFO Ann Mather to their board.

"We are real, not just a concept on a piece of paper," Lorie says, adding that it's a particular thrill to serve the Rhine region, which is famed for its vineyards. The channel now reaches more than 20 million viewers in Europe, where they're close to clinching a deal for mobile delivery of their content (starting with wine tips) to cell phone users. BSkyB launched Wine TV in the U.K. and Ireland on Nov. 1, and they're expanding to Asia with a Malaysian launch in June. A U.S. launch is being firmed up.

As we tucked into our appetizers, Lorie brought me up to date on Wine TV's programming such as the travel series The Wine Route, which explores wine regions around the world including Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and the U.S. She also extolled the virtues of Wine 101, a lighthearted, accessible look at the world of wine that is hosted by former Frasier star David Hyde Pierce.

By the time our main courses had arrived, the talk had turned to U.S. operators' desire for targeted TV brands with consumer outreach, as illustrated by Comcast's marketing to the local Chinese community. Wine TV announced a video-on-demand deal with Akimbo on the eve of the National Show, and Patrick told me, between bites, of their plans to create local wine clubs for U.S. cable affiliates along with a VOD-exclusive how-to course that would issue a certificate to cable subscribers upon completion. As we then sipped our post- meal espressos and our waiter arrived with the check, he adds: "VOD is not a technology, it's a service."

[Copyright 2005 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

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