More than meets the eye: CEG-Multimedia embarks on interactive television show via the Internet

Black Enterprise, April, 1996 by Carolyn M. Brown

If you want people to embrace technology, you have to make it innovative, interactive and entertaining. At least that's the driving principle behind Krystol C. Cameron's firm, CEG-Multimedia. The New York-based company is a full-scale pre- and post-production house that develops film, video, audio and multimedia projects.

Using state-of-the-art equipment--valued at $980,000--CEG-Multimedia has the capability to master CD-ROMs, develop 3-D Web sites and create animated films. Cameron has used profits to finance his high-tech operation, which has 12 full-time employees and a 15,000-sq.-ft. studio.

While Cameron incorporated the business a little over a year ago--first-year sales revenues were around $1.6 million--he's been fine-tuning his business for years. In fact, the MIT grad, who has a doctorate in computer engineering, has been designing and customizing software over the last 10 years. After four years as a senior engineer at both IBM and Apple, Cameron started his own company in 1988. Cameron Systems did computer systems installation, repairs and sales. First year sales were about $750,000; the next year it generated $825,000.

After seeing an infomercial that Cameron produced for his computer firm and a cosmetics company, a local film production company hired him in 1992 to help develop music videos and commercials. Cameron also did print advertisements, brochures and magazine design.

Realizing the vast potential of the entertainment industry, Cameron embarked on his own production company, one that would emphasize multimedia products, including interactive music CDs and Web sites.

Taking $120,000 in personal savings and profits from Cameron Systems, which he shut down, the 28-year-old entrepreneur started Digimedia Inc. in December of 1994. Among the eight-employee firm's first projects was an interactive CD for R&B artist Brian McKnight's latest album. Digimedia was later bought out by Citi Entertainment Group (CEG), a black-owned media company that seeks to produce and finance film, music and interactive projects.

CEG-Multimedia's most current innovative project is an interactive weekly television show the firm hopes to air via the Internet and on a major network this year. The hour-long show will feature musical performances and interviews with such artists as Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men and James Brown, and will be broadcast live from the Mosquitos City restaurant in New York. "We found ways, from a software standpoint, to employ decompression methods to deliver real-time quality video over television and the Internet," says Cameron.

Indeed, viewers will be able to interact with what is happening on their TV screens. Essentially, they can look through any camera on the set and go upstairs or downstairs in the restaurant or even into the kitchen, he explains. Moreover, they will be able to dial in--via an Internet connection--and talk directly to a guest who will actually see as well as hear the caller. To access the show, a viewer would need a computer equipped with a 28.8 kbps modem and a step-top camera, which costs about $20.

The TV show is a collaboration between Cameron and Hank Williams, the president of CEG-ITV. Cameron, one of five business partners who own CEG, will retain his status as president of CEG-Multimedia.

"The merger made sense because of the value of the partners and the total value of the company [over $100 million in assets]," says Cameron. "Now I'll be able to produce multimedia products on a much larger scale than I ever imagined."