May 16, 2025 • 30 mins
Americans love their dogs with nearly 60 million homes having at least one! And most people undoubtedly think that their pup is the cutest and most entertaining pup on the planet. Now they will have a chance to prove it! On this episode we're talking to the co-founder of BarkTV, Brendan Canning, to find out how you can nominate your furry friend for the Barkademy Awards.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Virginia Focus. I'm Rebecca Hughes of the Virginia
News Network. Americans love their dogs, with nearly sixty million
homes having at least one, and most people undoubtedly think
that their pup is the cutest and most entertaining pup
on the planet. Now they have a chance to prove it.
On this episode, we're talking to the co founder of
(00:27):
Bark TV, Brendan Canning, to find out how you can
nominate your furry friend for the Barcademy Awards. Welcome to
the show, mister Canning. I'm so glad we could talk
to you today. I'm really excited about today's subject.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Great, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, So, why don't we start by talking about what
is bark TV?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sure, happy to explain one of our favorite channels. So,
Bark TV is a twenty four to seven television channel
that is distributed throughout the country on various platforms of
which we can get into. But it is all focused
on great dog content. So it's first of all, people
(01:10):
always ask me is it for the dog or for
the owner? And I say it's always for It's for
the owner, So it's for any dog lover out there
who wants to watch content about veterinarian content, grooming, fun
(01:30):
content about funny dogs, entertaining dogs. We have some agility
content on there. We have all kinds of different just
fun content that really makes people relax and have a
good time looking and watching and learning about dogs.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I love that I'm a dog lover myself. Are you?
I assume you are.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely have a twelve year old English Lab named Scout.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I love that we color.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
He's yellow?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, all right, yep. I had a mixed breed, but
he was lab base I guess is what you say
like a lab mixed breed. He was also yellow. I
got him at the shelter, but he just passed away
not too long ago. He was also twelve oh and
we named him Hank. And then we also had a
great Dane who passed away a year before that. He
(02:28):
was eight years old. So I haven't replaced my fur
baby yet, just because I want to make sure that
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know, I hear you, And now they're They're very
hard to replace and you gotta take your time and
do it on your own schedule.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Right, So what made you decide to do Bark TV?
What drew you to that subject matter.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Sure, so I'll give you a little background. I think
it would be helpful if I gave you a little
background on the company itself and evolved into doing Bark TV.
So my partner and I created Triple B Media in
twenty twenty one. We are both veterans of ESPN, So
(03:16):
I worked at ESPN for about twelve years. He worked
there for about fifteen years. His name is Anthony Bailey.
He worked in the technology group. I worked in the
distribution group, and we became friends there and then ultimately
in twenty twenty slash twenty twenty one, we decided to
(03:37):
create Triple B Media. And what we thought was that
there was an opportunity to do was to create, to
own and operate a portfolio of twenty four to seven
television channels. Now during this time and as this as
(03:57):
we continue along at this moment in time, pay television
cable television, as you may know, is sort of is
losing subscribers, right, so not as many people pay for
cable television as they once did. It was once up
to close to one hundred million pay TV subscribers in
(04:18):
the country. Now it's down to probably around seventy million subscribers.
But during that period of time, what evolved was as
more and more people were watching television over the Internet,
that as more and more people cut the cord and
decided not to not to pay for cable television anymore,
(04:42):
there was still a need and there were still a
lot of people that wanted to watch television in their
living room on the big screen. Right, So, you still
think about it, you go home at night, you still
want to relax in your television and watch something on
your big screen. So around twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, there
(05:05):
was a movement created that ultimately was called fast Television
or fast free ad support of television. So this is
when many of the platforms like Pluto TV that came
out and became more popular. Right. So these are platforms
(05:27):
that are all Internet based connected TV applications that are
on your big screen. When Anthony and I decided to
launch Triple Bing Media, we thought that there was a
really interesting opportunity to create television channels specifically for these
(05:48):
new platforms. So again there was Pluto TV, there was
the Roku channel, there was LG was launching their own
UH channels, Samsung TV Plus all these new I call
them new fangled ways of watching UH content, and so
(06:11):
we thought that there was an opportunity to create UH
single sport in single genre channels. UH. So we have
a portfolio of channels that are all centered on sports.
So we have we have a channel that's called Billiard TV,
which is cool from all from professional pool players from
(06:34):
all over the world and professional tournaments from all over
the world. We have a lacrosse channel, we have a
boxing channel. And then what we did is we sat
back and you know what we what we what we
realized that we were doing was we were super serving
fan basis right. So again, if you're a billiards fan,
(06:55):
you want to watch Billiard TV. If you're a lacross
you want to char lacrosse channel. So Anthony and I
are both dog lovers and dog owners, so we and
we knew that there was a lot of dog content
that was out there. So last year it was twenty
twenty four, we decided to launch a dog channel. And
(07:17):
again it's under the same concept of super serving fans,
super serving folks and viewers that are really into dog content.
And there's billions of dollars spent a year. I think
it's four billion dollars spent a year on dog food
(07:41):
and leashes and everything related to dogs, So it's a
really big economy related to dogs. There was a ton
of dog content itself. So we decided, you know what,
you know, we may not be the brightest, but we're
smart enough to know that well, we think that a
dog channel would do well, and we were right. We
(08:04):
launched park TV in mid twenty twenty four and people
have been crazy about it ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I love that, and it makes sense because we're seeing
a trend with the younger generation not having children, and
it's possible they're just not having them as young maybe
they're waiting later. But I know a lot of young
people they see their pets as their babies, and some
of them are okay with that long term, and like
(08:37):
you said, they're spoiling them to death, like the way
you want a kid. That's right, So that makes a
lot of sense. So let me ask you this, since
we're learning about how all these things work. When you
started this Bark TV, like you said, there's lots of
content already out there that's being made by other people.
(09:00):
How do you get those shows on your channel? Sure?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, I mean, you know, we've been in the content
business for over twenty years, myself and my partner, and
so we know where to go the whole sort of
entertainment business. You know, there's there's a lot of content
producers out there that specialize in certain types of content.
(09:26):
So we just went to them and asked them to
see what their library of content was, and that's really
how we started the channel. We also went to some
YouTube creators, and there's a ton of YouTube creators out
there that are doing creating great content every week, every
day for that matter, about their own dogs. So we
(09:48):
have some dogs on there like Cruso the Dashound, and
he's one of the most popular pieces of content that
we have on the channel. That's awesome, and it originates
on YouTube. We also have it as well. So we're
mixing and matching sort of how we we we get
more and differentiated and diversified dog content. We're going out
(10:10):
there now and getting some dog movies. So yeah, it's
it's a work in progress. I will tell you that
it's never We're never done finding good dog content. It's
always a process to get more. But there's, like I said,
there's a ton of it out there.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, most definitely. I don't think there'll ever be a
shortage either. This's just you know, people, like I said,
they love dogs, so that's a really easy way to
get people involved. Do you hope to or do you
even now have some of the dog shows like the
Kennel Club and the A k C. Stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
In fact, we are we don't today, but we are
certainly talking to them.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I'd love to have some of their content.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, I love that. That would be awesome. So you
start this channel, it just takes off. It's gangbusters. You know,
You've got all these different types of shows and all
this stuff. Now, the premise that I was sold on
this interview was Barkcademy Awards. What is that?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, one of our favorite things to talk about these days.
The Barcademy Awards came to us because we were getting
so much feedback from our viewers. The feedback that we
were getting from our viewers was, hey, you got great
dogs and bar TV. My dog's great too. They do
(11:51):
a great trick they have, they're the cutest, they're the funniest.
So whatever it might be. So we sat back and
he said, all right, well, how do we how do
we integrate this into Bark TV. And we decided to
create an awards program. And that's really the the the
how it all began. So we we sat back and
(12:14):
we said, okay, how what what should we do? And
we decided to create the Barkademy Awards. It's been great
so far. We've we've gotten a lot of uh interest
in it. There's we've had a ton of of submissions
and it's it's been it's been really exciting and it's
(12:35):
just fun. Like it's no you know, we're not trying
to solve anything here, you know, cure any diseases. It's
just fun and that's really you know, as I tell people,
you know, as I talk about the Barkademy Awards, one
of the things I tell people all the time is
is listen, you know, we live in a world today
(12:59):
where things are really hyped up. You watch television, you
watch news, make sure your blood pressure boil a little bit.
With Bark TV, your blood pressure comes down. So you know,
we're not solving any any of the world's problems here.
(13:20):
We're just trying to make We're trying to feature great
dogs and you know, just allow people to relax for
a few minutes. But the Bark Academy Awards really came
from viewers in terms of their interest in the channel,
and we decided to put that to the test.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I love that. So is it like the Academy Awards
where there are different categories and things like that, and
is it once a year? Can you give us more detail?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Well, I can tell you that this is the first.
We definitely hope that it will be the first of many.
Over what cadence of time will do we will see.
But yeah, it's definitely different categories. So we have we
have five different categories. We have the cutest. We have
(14:10):
Bark of the Year and any sound will do there,
So if your dog makes any sort of sound that
can be considered a Bark of the Year. We have
a celebrity lookalike contest. So sometimes we think that our
dog looks like Liam Neeson or maybe him Kardashian or
maybe or whoever it is. Yeah, that's right, that's right exactly.
(14:37):
There is an owner lookalike category, so sometimes we feel
like that our dog maybe over time begins to look
like us.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And then we also have a best trick category as well.
So basically it's really easy. You just go to barktvdogs
dot com. There's a link there to nominate your dog today,
and you click on that link. It'll bring you to
a menu where you can just click on each one
(15:08):
of these categories and you could submit your your all
of the information that we asked for. And that's really
it really simple. It just takes a few minutes to
do it.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Okay, So that's how you submit. And then what's the
plan for who's going to judge this to determine the winners?
And will there be like a televised ceremony like they
do for the Academy Awards with beautiful gowns and can
we gossip about stuff like that?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, maybe we'll have the dogs wear gowns.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I love it as.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
We as we figured this out. I think in year
one it's going to be pretty low key, to be
honest with you. So I don't think we'll have any
gowns in year one.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I think, well, what we'll do is we'll we'll we
have a committee of folks that are that work for us,
that are we'll be.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Judging the the the categories and judging. I think dominations
are available up through the twenty second I think it
is now of May. So after the twenty second of May,
will sit down and we will judge the categories, and
(16:21):
I think sometime in June we'll announce what the categories
are and then we'll we'll you know, I think there
will be a special a special Bar Academy trophy involved,
and then we definitely will reveal them on air.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, it's just fun. It's again, you know, just try
and have a little fun with with with those that
we love within our families, the dogs.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
That we love right our furry our furry family members.
And if you need any off screen narration for you know,
hosting for that show, you let me know and we
definitely will I would love to do it. Okay, So
we haven't told you said the twenty second of May
(17:08):
to get our entries in and then the announcement comes
out in June. Yep, okay, and where we're where do
we send that again? I know you said it, but
let's say it again? Sure?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah. So it's Barktvdogs dot com. Uh and really you
could just go to Barktvdogs dot com and there's a
link there to to to nominate your your your dogs.
I'll maybe I'll get into a little bit here about
how people can watch the channel as well, if that's okay.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Oh yeah, that would be great. And and actually before
we do that, I wanted to ask you have you
heard of The Doghouse the show it was on. It's
on Max, I believe HBO Max.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I have, Yes, I think I have.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I think that would fit so good with your channel.
I don't know what it takes to get them, but
I love that show and I would recommend it the
hands down.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Off to check that out off and check that out.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
But yeah, tell us how we can how we can
watch it?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, so we BRK TV is distributed throughout the country
on various platforms. Now it's distributed firstly as a broadcast
channel in about eighty markets, so eighty broadcast markets. So
what that means is that if you're in certain parts
(18:32):
of Virginia, you can watch Mark TV as an over
the year channel. So you need a digital antenna. Many
people these days have a digital antenna to watch to
watch channels. Now again they're not necessarily paying for and
that's one way to watch it. So you can watch
it over the year with your digital antenna, or you
(18:57):
can watch it on various digital platforms. So we are
available or bark TV is available on Zoomo, it's available
on Sling TV, it's available on Dish TV Local Now,
and it's also available on our own Roku app. So
(19:23):
if you have a Roku device in your home, all
you have to do is go to the search spar
and type in bark TV and you can download our
app right there. And so it's available again over the
year as a broadcast channel and then digitally on all
of those other platforms. But then in addition to that,
(19:45):
if you have your own Roku app, just search bark
TV and you can download it there and watch it
twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I love that. I love that. Now, do you guys
have a website for bark TV and do you stream
on the website as well?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, we do. So we have our own website. It's
called stream stack dot com s t R E A
M S t a K dot com and there's a
link to bark TV right there. So stream stack dot
com backslash bark TV, or you can just you'll find
a icon if you go to the front page of
(20:23):
streamstack dot com to watch Park TV and all of
our channels.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Okay, so is there a cat TV in the future.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
You know, you're not the first person to ask me that,
and it's definitely something that we're interested in. Cat lovers
are as wild and crazy as dog owners. Oh yeah,
and so we are looking into it. We don't have
it quite yet, but uh, you never know. Maybe this time,
(20:53):
maybe this time next year we'll be doing a cat worts.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, that'd be cool. And then maybe you could branch
out into horse is you know. I know there's a
YouTube channel that I watch. It's called a Stable Life
and they're out of Pennsylvania. It's a horse stable and
he just walks you through what they do every day.
And I've learned so much. I've not had experience with horses,
and I've learned so much. It's been really cool.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah. Well, it's fun to watch channels like this where
you learn a little bit more. You might know something
about dogs, you might know something about horses, but you
can always learn a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Oh yeah, for sure. So besides animal channels are the
possibility thereof are there other upcoming channels that you guys
are mulling around and working on.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yep? There are nothing that I can necessarily, you know,
exactly speak to at the moment as far as we're
not quite ready to announce things. But yes, and again,
the whole idea here is that we're super serving fan bases.
So we're looking at a few different work channels that
would you know, of different sports where people really really
(22:08):
love them, that they participated in them week in week out.
There are professional levels of this of the content, just
like billiards for example, all over the world. So we're
trying to you know, we're working our way in trying
to launch those type of channels as we speak.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Okay, awesome And just because I'm going to be nosy
now because that's what I do. How many employees do
you guys have?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, we have about a dozen employees. We're located in
North Haveing, Connecticut. We have about six or seven people
in Connecticut, and then we have the rest are throughout
the country and some other parts of the world as well.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
That's awesome. That's awesome. So if somebody was listening to
this and they wanted to be involved either in Bark TV,
one of your other channels, anything like that, what would
you recommend for them?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Well, in terms of reaching out to us.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, let's say they wanted to get involved on the
on the end that you know, the things that you
do instead of watching it, they wanted to be involved,
what would they do?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Sure? Yeah, So I think the best thing to do
is they can always reach out to to to me.
I don't mind. They can reach out to me directly,
I can, I can I mention my email address of course. Sure.
So it's be as and boyc as in cat BC
at TRIPLEB dot TV. So anyone can always feel feel
(23:42):
free to reach out to me and let us know
how great they love our content and you know, happy
to happy to chat.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Awesome. And I assume that you guys are on all
the social medias.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
We are mostly focused on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
But yeah, okay, and we would just find that how.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Just search search for the search for bark TV or
billiards or whatever it is, and and we're right there.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Nice. Nice, that's awesome. Okay, Well, let me ask you
this question. I'm just curious, and you're the expert. Is
there anything the audience needs to know that I didn't
know that I needed to ask you about it?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
That's a great question. I think you've done a great
job in asking me most of the questions. No, I
think I think that the best thing to do, the
best thing for people to understand is that our all
of our content is free, and it's all I'd supported
(24:51):
and we are we want to make it. We want
to continue to make it free. So please support our
advertisers if and when you see them. We have a
lot of advertisers of Bark TV. As you can imagine
that our are our bark you know, excuse me, our
dog related you know foods, and you know leashes and
(25:13):
and you know other toys and things like that. So
please please make sure to to uh to support our advertisers.
But no, I think that you know, go to our
website TRIPLEB dot tv. There's more information there and and
we're we're always interested in hearing from our viewers.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Okay, great, And then that made me think of one
other question I have for you. I have young children,
they're young adults, and I know not so much my kids,
but they're friends. In particular, several have the attitude that
I'm not going to support you if you bombard me
with ads. I just want to see my content. I
(25:55):
know you said, you want to keep it free, but
would there ever be in time where you would be
interested in offering a paid version for the people who
are so anti ad.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Sure, it's definitely something that we're we're always looking at. Yeah,
I mean, you know, the economics of that are are
are challenging sometimes to be frank, so we have to
make sure that you know, it's a good business for us.
But you know, it's definitely something we're interested in and
(26:30):
interested in pursuing. But right now we're focused on on
ads and sort of that typical television's look of you know,
we have thirty minute, one hour shows that are have
roughly ten hours of advertising per hour on there. So
that's what we're doing right now. But yeah, I mean,
(26:52):
I think that we're looking at all different types of
opportunities in terms of you know, monetization.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Okay, I'm with you. I prefer my radio and my
TV free, and I don't mind watching a few ads,
and I think that paying for it sets up a
precedent that we probably don't want. But I figured I
better ask the question anyway.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
No, it's and for some I think you're right, Like
for what we want to do over time is we
want to offer a great content, regardless of whether it's billiards, bowling, boxing, bark,
whatever it might be. But we want to provide it
to people in the way that they want to consume it. Right, So,
if that means that you want to consume it on
(27:42):
a free ad support a basis, then we're happy to
do that. But if your kids want to pay us,
then we should never be in a position to turn
down someone wanting to pay us. So right, that's you know,
that's the essence of good business right.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
There, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
So yeah, so we're definitely looking at it.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Okay, awesome, Well, if you don't mind, we're coming up
on the end of the time, but if you will
plug the website not only for Bark TV, but for
some of your other ones as well, just in case
somebody's wanting to take a look.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, sure, So for Bark for the bar Academy Awards,
any interested folks can go to Bark Tvdogs dot com,
b A r K Dogs Excuse me, Bark b a
r K t V Dogs dot com, Bark Tvdogs dot com.
It's really easy to to to submit your your categories
(28:40):
right there. If you want to watch any of our content.
You can go online to stream Stack dot com, s
t R E A M S t a K dot
com and you'll see links to all of our our
channels right there. And then, really, Rebecca, if you're on
any connected TV device at all, and what you can
(29:01):
do is just search for Bark TV or Billiard TV
or Boxing TV, whatever your interest is, and our channel
should come up.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for coming on the
show today and for telling us, you know, not only
about the Bark Academy Awards and all the fun part
of it, but helping us understand how it works on
the back end as well, because I think that's just
as important sometimes for people to understand, you know, when
you encounter new things.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Absolutely, I agree.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I hope you've enjoyed today's show. Thanks for tuning into
the show on your favorite local radio station. You can
now listen to this show or past shows through the
iheartapp or on iHeart dot com. Just search for Virginia
Focus under podcasts. I'm Rebecca Hughes with the Virginia News Network,
and I'll be here next week on Virginia Focus
Welcome to Virginia Focus. I'm Rebecca Hughes of the Virginia
News Network. Americans love their dogs, with nearly sixty million
homes having at least one, and most people undoubtedly think
that their pup is the cutest and most entertaining pup
on the planet. Now they have a chance to prove it.
On this episode, we're talking to the co founder of
(00:27):
Bark TV, Brendan Canning, to find out how you can
nominate your furry friend for the Barcademy Awards. Welcome to
the show, mister Canning. I'm so glad we could talk
to you today. I'm really excited about today's subject.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Great, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, So, why don't we start by talking about what
is bark TV?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sure, happy to explain one of our favorite channels. So,
Bark TV is a twenty four to seven television channel
that is distributed throughout the country on various platforms of
which we can get into. But it is all focused
on great dog content. So it's first of all, people
(01:10):
always ask me is it for the dog or for
the owner? And I say it's always for It's for
the owner, So it's for any dog lover out there
who wants to watch content about veterinarian content, grooming, fun
(01:30):
content about funny dogs, entertaining dogs. We have some agility
content on there. We have all kinds of different just
fun content that really makes people relax and have a
good time looking and watching and learning about dogs.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I love that I'm a dog lover myself. Are you?
I assume you are.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely have a twelve year old English Lab named Scout.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I love that we color.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
He's yellow?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, all right, yep. I had a mixed breed, but
he was lab base I guess is what you say
like a lab mixed breed. He was also yellow. I
got him at the shelter, but he just passed away
not too long ago. He was also twelve oh and
we named him Hank. And then we also had a
great Dane who passed away a year before that. He
(02:28):
was eight years old. So I haven't replaced my fur
baby yet, just because I want to make sure that
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know, I hear you, And now they're They're very
hard to replace and you gotta take your time and
do it on your own schedule.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Right, So what made you decide to do Bark TV?
What drew you to that subject matter.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Sure, so I'll give you a little background. I think
it would be helpful if I gave you a little
background on the company itself and evolved into doing Bark TV.
So my partner and I created Triple B Media in
twenty twenty one. We are both veterans of ESPN, So
(03:16):
I worked at ESPN for about twelve years. He worked
there for about fifteen years. His name is Anthony Bailey.
He worked in the technology group. I worked in the
distribution group, and we became friends there and then ultimately
in twenty twenty slash twenty twenty one, we decided to
(03:37):
create Triple B Media. And what we thought was that
there was an opportunity to do was to create, to
own and operate a portfolio of twenty four to seven
television channels. Now during this time and as this as
(03:57):
we continue along at this moment in time, pay television
cable television, as you may know, is sort of is
losing subscribers, right, so not as many people pay for
cable television as they once did. It was once up
to close to one hundred million pay TV subscribers in
(04:18):
the country. Now it's down to probably around seventy million subscribers.
But during that period of time, what evolved was as
more and more people were watching television over the Internet,
that as more and more people cut the cord and
decided not to not to pay for cable television anymore,
(04:42):
there was still a need and there were still a
lot of people that wanted to watch television in their
living room on the big screen. Right, So, you still
think about it, you go home at night, you still
want to relax in your television and watch something on
your big screen. So around twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, there
(05:05):
was a movement created that ultimately was called fast Television
or fast free ad support of television. So this is
when many of the platforms like Pluto TV that came
out and became more popular. Right. So these are platforms
(05:27):
that are all Internet based connected TV applications that are
on your big screen. When Anthony and I decided to
launch Triple Bing Media, we thought that there was a
really interesting opportunity to create television channels specifically for these
(05:48):
new platforms. So again there was Pluto TV, there was
the Roku channel, there was LG was launching their own
UH channels, Samsung TV Plus all these new I call
them new fangled ways of watching UH content, and so
(06:11):
we thought that there was an opportunity to create UH
single sport in single genre channels. UH. So we have
a portfolio of channels that are all centered on sports.
So we have we have a channel that's called Billiard TV,
which is cool from all from professional pool players from
(06:34):
all over the world and professional tournaments from all over
the world. We have a lacrosse channel, we have a
boxing channel. And then what we did is we sat
back and you know what we what we what we
realized that we were doing was we were super serving
fan basis right. So again, if you're a billiards fan,
(06:55):
you want to watch Billiard TV. If you're a lacross
you want to char lacrosse channel. So Anthony and I
are both dog lovers and dog owners, so we and
we knew that there was a lot of dog content
that was out there. So last year it was twenty
twenty four, we decided to launch a dog channel. And
(07:17):
again it's under the same concept of super serving fans,
super serving folks and viewers that are really into dog content.
And there's billions of dollars spent a year. I think
it's four billion dollars spent a year on dog food
(07:41):
and leashes and everything related to dogs, So it's a
really big economy related to dogs. There was a ton
of dog content itself. So we decided, you know what,
you know, we may not be the brightest, but we're
smart enough to know that well, we think that a
dog channel would do well, and we were right. We
(08:04):
launched park TV in mid twenty twenty four and people
have been crazy about it ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I love that, and it makes sense because we're seeing
a trend with the younger generation not having children, and
it's possible they're just not having them as young maybe
they're waiting later. But I know a lot of young
people they see their pets as their babies, and some
of them are okay with that long term, and like
(08:37):
you said, they're spoiling them to death, like the way
you want a kid. That's right, So that makes a
lot of sense. So let me ask you this, since
we're learning about how all these things work. When you
started this Bark TV, like you said, there's lots of
content already out there that's being made by other people.
(09:00):
How do you get those shows on your channel? Sure?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, I mean, you know, we've been in the content
business for over twenty years, myself and my partner, and
so we know where to go the whole sort of
entertainment business. You know, there's there's a lot of content
producers out there that specialize in certain types of content.
(09:26):
So we just went to them and asked them to
see what their library of content was, and that's really
how we started the channel. We also went to some
YouTube creators, and there's a ton of YouTube creators out
there that are doing creating great content every week, every
day for that matter, about their own dogs. So we
(09:48):
have some dogs on there like Cruso the Dashound, and
he's one of the most popular pieces of content that
we have on the channel. That's awesome, and it originates
on YouTube. We also have it as well. So we're
mixing and matching sort of how we we we get
more and differentiated and diversified dog content. We're going out
(10:10):
there now and getting some dog movies. So yeah, it's
it's a work in progress. I will tell you that
it's never We're never done finding good dog content. It's
always a process to get more. But there's, like I said,
there's a ton of it out there.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, most definitely. I don't think there'll ever be a
shortage either. This's just you know, people, like I said,
they love dogs, so that's a really easy way to
get people involved. Do you hope to or do you
even now have some of the dog shows like the
Kennel Club and the A k C. Stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
In fact, we are we don't today, but we are
certainly talking to them.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I'd love to have some of their content.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, I love that. That would be awesome. So you
start this channel, it just takes off. It's gangbusters. You know,
You've got all these different types of shows and all
this stuff. Now, the premise that I was sold on
this interview was Barkcademy Awards. What is that?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, one of our favorite things to talk about these days.
The Barcademy Awards came to us because we were getting
so much feedback from our viewers. The feedback that we
were getting from our viewers was, hey, you got great
dogs and bar TV. My dog's great too. They do
(11:51):
a great trick they have, they're the cutest, they're the funniest.
So whatever it might be. So we sat back and
he said, all right, well, how do we how do
we integrate this into Bark TV. And we decided to
create an awards program. And that's really the the the
how it all began. So we we sat back and
(12:14):
we said, okay, how what what should we do? And
we decided to create the Barkademy Awards. It's been great
so far. We've we've gotten a lot of uh interest
in it. There's we've had a ton of of submissions
and it's it's been it's been really exciting and it's
(12:35):
just fun. Like it's no you know, we're not trying
to solve anything here, you know, cure any diseases. It's
just fun and that's really you know, as I tell people,
you know, as I talk about the Barkademy Awards, one
of the things I tell people all the time is
is listen, you know, we live in a world today
(12:59):
where things are really hyped up. You watch television, you
watch news, make sure your blood pressure boil a little bit.
With Bark TV, your blood pressure comes down. So you know,
we're not solving any any of the world's problems here.
(13:20):
We're just trying to make We're trying to feature great
dogs and you know, just allow people to relax for
a few minutes. But the Bark Academy Awards really came
from viewers in terms of their interest in the channel,
and we decided to put that to the test.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I love that. So is it like the Academy Awards
where there are different categories and things like that, and
is it once a year? Can you give us more detail?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Well, I can tell you that this is the first.
We definitely hope that it will be the first of many.
Over what cadence of time will do we will see.
But yeah, it's definitely different categories. So we have we
have five different categories. We have the cutest. We have
(14:10):
Bark of the Year and any sound will do there,
So if your dog makes any sort of sound that
can be considered a Bark of the Year. We have
a celebrity lookalike contest. So sometimes we think that our
dog looks like Liam Neeson or maybe him Kardashian or
maybe or whoever it is. Yeah, that's right, that's right exactly.
(14:37):
There is an owner lookalike category, so sometimes we feel
like that our dog maybe over time begins to look
like us.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And then we also have a best trick category as well.
So basically it's really easy. You just go to barktvdogs
dot com. There's a link there to nominate your dog today,
and you click on that link. It'll bring you to
a menu where you can just click on each one
(15:08):
of these categories and you could submit your your all
of the information that we asked for. And that's really
it really simple. It just takes a few minutes to
do it.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Okay, So that's how you submit. And then what's the
plan for who's going to judge this to determine the winners?
And will there be like a televised ceremony like they
do for the Academy Awards with beautiful gowns and can
we gossip about stuff like that?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, maybe we'll have the dogs wear gowns.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I love it as.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
We as we figured this out. I think in year
one it's going to be pretty low key, to be
honest with you. So I don't think we'll have any
gowns in year one.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I think, well, what we'll do is we'll we'll we
have a committee of folks that are that work for us,
that are we'll be.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Judging the the the categories and judging. I think dominations
are available up through the twenty second I think it
is now of May. So after the twenty second of May,
will sit down and we will judge the categories, and
(16:21):
I think sometime in June we'll announce what the categories
are and then we'll we'll you know, I think there
will be a special a special Bar Academy trophy involved,
and then we definitely will reveal them on air.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, it's just fun. It's again, you know, just try
and have a little fun with with with those that
we love within our families, the dogs.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
That we love right our furry our furry family members.
And if you need any off screen narration for you know,
hosting for that show, you let me know and we
definitely will I would love to do it. Okay, So
we haven't told you said the twenty second of May
(17:08):
to get our entries in and then the announcement comes
out in June. Yep, okay, and where we're where do
we send that again? I know you said it, but
let's say it again? Sure?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah. So it's Barktvdogs dot com. Uh and really you
could just go to Barktvdogs dot com and there's a
link there to to to nominate your your your dogs.
I'll maybe I'll get into a little bit here about
how people can watch the channel as well, if that's okay.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Oh yeah, that would be great. And and actually before
we do that, I wanted to ask you have you
heard of The Doghouse the show it was on. It's
on Max, I believe HBO Max.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I have, Yes, I think I have.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I think that would fit so good with your channel.
I don't know what it takes to get them, but
I love that show and I would recommend it the
hands down.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Off to check that out off and check that out.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
But yeah, tell us how we can how we can
watch it?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, so we BRK TV is distributed throughout the country
on various platforms. Now it's distributed firstly as a broadcast
channel in about eighty markets, so eighty broadcast markets. So
what that means is that if you're in certain parts
(18:32):
of Virginia, you can watch Mark TV as an over
the year channel. So you need a digital antenna. Many
people these days have a digital antenna to watch to
watch channels. Now again they're not necessarily paying for and
that's one way to watch it. So you can watch
it over the year with your digital antenna, or you
(18:57):
can watch it on various digital platforms. So we are
available or bark TV is available on Zoomo, it's available
on Sling TV, it's available on Dish TV Local Now,
and it's also available on our own Roku app. So
(19:23):
if you have a Roku device in your home, all
you have to do is go to the search spar
and type in bark TV and you can download our
app right there. And so it's available again over the
year as a broadcast channel and then digitally on all
of those other platforms. But then in addition to that,
(19:45):
if you have your own Roku app, just search bark
TV and you can download it there and watch it
twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I love that. I love that. Now, do you guys
have a website for bark TV and do you stream
on the website as well?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, we do. So we have our own website. It's
called stream stack dot com s t R E A
M S t a K dot com and there's a
link to bark TV right there. So stream stack dot
com backslash bark TV, or you can just you'll find
a icon if you go to the front page of
(20:23):
streamstack dot com to watch Park TV and all of
our channels.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Okay, so is there a cat TV in the future.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
You know, you're not the first person to ask me that,
and it's definitely something that we're interested in. Cat lovers
are as wild and crazy as dog owners. Oh yeah,
and so we are looking into it. We don't have
it quite yet, but uh, you never know. Maybe this time,
(20:53):
maybe this time next year we'll be doing a cat worts.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, that'd be cool. And then maybe you could branch
out into horse is you know. I know there's a
YouTube channel that I watch. It's called a Stable Life
and they're out of Pennsylvania. It's a horse stable and
he just walks you through what they do every day.
And I've learned so much. I've not had experience with horses,
and I've learned so much. It's been really cool.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah. Well, it's fun to watch channels like this where
you learn a little bit more. You might know something
about dogs, you might know something about horses, but you
can always learn a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Oh yeah, for sure. So besides animal channels are the
possibility thereof are there other upcoming channels that you guys
are mulling around and working on.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yep? There are nothing that I can necessarily, you know,
exactly speak to at the moment as far as we're
not quite ready to announce things. But yes, and again,
the whole idea here is that we're super serving fan bases.
So we're looking at a few different work channels that
would you know, of different sports where people really really
(22:08):
love them, that they participated in them week in week out.
There are professional levels of this of the content, just
like billiards for example, all over the world. So we're
trying to you know, we're working our way in trying
to launch those type of channels as we speak.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Okay, awesome And just because I'm going to be nosy
now because that's what I do. How many employees do
you guys have?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, we have about a dozen employees. We're located in
North Haveing, Connecticut. We have about six or seven people
in Connecticut, and then we have the rest are throughout
the country and some other parts of the world as well.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
That's awesome. That's awesome. So if somebody was listening to
this and they wanted to be involved either in Bark TV,
one of your other channels, anything like that, what would
you recommend for them?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Well, in terms of reaching out to us.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, let's say they wanted to get involved on the
on the end that you know, the things that you
do instead of watching it, they wanted to be involved,
what would they do?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Sure? Yeah, So I think the best thing to do
is they can always reach out to to to me.
I don't mind. They can reach out to me directly,
I can, I can I mention my email address of course. Sure.
So it's be as and boyc as in cat BC
at TRIPLEB dot TV. So anyone can always feel feel
(23:42):
free to reach out to me and let us know
how great they love our content and you know, happy
to happy to chat.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Awesome. And I assume that you guys are on all
the social medias.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
We are mostly focused on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
But yeah, okay, and we would just find that how.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Just search search for the search for bark TV or
billiards or whatever it is, and and we're right there.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Nice. Nice, that's awesome. Okay, Well, let me ask you
this question. I'm just curious, and you're the expert. Is
there anything the audience needs to know that I didn't
know that I needed to ask you about it?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
That's a great question. I think you've done a great
job in asking me most of the questions. No, I
think I think that the best thing to do, the
best thing for people to understand is that our all
of our content is free, and it's all I'd supported
(24:51):
and we are we want to make it. We want
to continue to make it free. So please support our
advertisers if and when you see them. We have a
lot of advertisers of Bark TV. As you can imagine
that our are our bark you know, excuse me, our
dog related you know foods, and you know leashes and
(25:13):
and you know other toys and things like that. So
please please make sure to to uh to support our advertisers.
But no, I think that you know, go to our
website TRIPLEB dot tv. There's more information there and and
we're we're always interested in hearing from our viewers.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Okay, great, And then that made me think of one
other question I have for you. I have young children,
they're young adults, and I know not so much my kids,
but they're friends. In particular, several have the attitude that
I'm not going to support you if you bombard me
with ads. I just want to see my content. I
(25:55):
know you said, you want to keep it free, but
would there ever be in time where you would be
interested in offering a paid version for the people who
are so anti ad.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Sure, it's definitely something that we're we're always looking at. Yeah,
I mean, you know, the economics of that are are
are challenging sometimes to be frank, so we have to
make sure that you know, it's a good business for us.
But you know, it's definitely something we're interested in and
(26:30):
interested in pursuing. But right now we're focused on on
ads and sort of that typical television's look of you know,
we have thirty minute, one hour shows that are have
roughly ten hours of advertising per hour on there. So
that's what we're doing right now. But yeah, I mean,
(26:52):
I think that we're looking at all different types of
opportunities in terms of you know, monetization.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Okay, I'm with you. I prefer my radio and my
TV free, and I don't mind watching a few ads,
and I think that paying for it sets up a
precedent that we probably don't want. But I figured I
better ask the question anyway.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
No, it's and for some I think you're right, Like
for what we want to do over time is we
want to offer a great content, regardless of whether it's billiards, bowling, boxing, bark,
whatever it might be. But we want to provide it
to people in the way that they want to consume it. Right, So,
if that means that you want to consume it on
(27:42):
a free ad support a basis, then we're happy to
do that. But if your kids want to pay us,
then we should never be in a position to turn
down someone wanting to pay us. So right, that's you know,
that's the essence of good business right.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
There, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
So yeah, so we're definitely looking at it.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Okay, awesome, Well, if you don't mind, we're coming up
on the end of the time, but if you will
plug the website not only for Bark TV, but for
some of your other ones as well, just in case
somebody's wanting to take a look.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, sure, So for Bark for the bar Academy Awards,
any interested folks can go to Bark Tvdogs dot com,
b A r K Dogs Excuse me, Bark b a
r K t V Dogs dot com, Bark Tvdogs dot com.
It's really easy to to to submit your your categories
(28:40):
right there. If you want to watch any of our content.
You can go online to stream Stack dot com, s
t R E A M S t a K dot
com and you'll see links to all of our our
channels right there. And then, really, Rebecca, if you're on
any connected TV device at all, and what you can
(29:01):
do is just search for Bark TV or Billiard TV
or Boxing TV, whatever your interest is, and our channel
should come up.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for coming on the
show today and for telling us, you know, not only
about the Bark Academy Awards and all the fun part
of it, but helping us understand how it works on
the back end as well, because I think that's just
as important sometimes for people to understand, you know, when
you encounter new things.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Absolutely, I agree.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I hope you've enjoyed today's show. Thanks for tuning into
the show on your favorite local radio station. You can
now listen to this show or past shows through the
iheartapp or on iHeart dot com. Just search for Virginia
Focus under podcasts. I'm Rebecca Hughes with the Virginia News Network,
and I'll be here next week on Virginia Focus
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