An entertainment industry veteran with over 45 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media, Larry Namer is a founding partner of Metan Development Group (Metan), a venture created to develop entertainment and media specifically for the Chinese marketplace. An accomplished entrepreneur, Mr. Namer is the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a company now valued at over $3.5 billion USD, and the creator of several successful companies in the United States and overseas. He was also instrumental in discovering and launching the careers of Greg Kinnear, Julie Moran and Katie Wagner, the main on air personalities of E! in its early years.
Among those companies are Comspan Communications that pioneered Western forms of entertainment in the former Soviet Union, including the syndication of the popular soap opera Santa Barbara, which ran for 10 years in the region, and Steeplechase Media that served as the primary consultant to Microsoft's MiTV for developing interactive TV applications. Steeplechase was also involved in the early development of ITV programming, creating interactive episodes of Baywatch, Pacific Blue and over 250 episodes of Judge Judy. Mr. Namer was also the Primary Strategic Consultant to The Documentary Channel.
A cable industry pioneer, Mr. Namer began his career in 1971 at Time Incorporated Manhattan Cable, and served as Vice President and General Manager of Valley Cable Television (VCTV) in Los Angeles, the nation's first 61-channel two-way cable system. His vision and direction garnered VCTV several Emmy and Cable ACE award nominations, as well as recognition by Forbes magazine as the national model for local cable television programming. In 1989, he was awarded the prestigious President's Award from the National Cable Television Association.
In recent years, Mr. Namer has become recognized as one of the world's leading experts on new technology and how it is fundamentally altering the business of international media and entertainment. Among the companies that have enlisted his expertise are Microsoft, Paul Allen's Digeo, World Digital Media Group (a joint venture of Radio Shack), EchoStar and Sirius Radio network.
Mr. Namer's latest venture, Metan Development Group (Metan) was created to develop and distribute entertainment content and media specifically for Chinese speaking audiences in China and abroad. Namer's partners on this venture are entertainment industry veteran Martin Pompadur and Amerilink founder Jean Zhang.
Metan's most notable projects include Hello! Hollywood!, a weekly entertainment news series tailored to Chinese audiences, offering up the latest in celebrity and lifestyle news, and covering the most glamorous red carpet events and award shows. Since its launch in summer 2009, the series is now available on over 40 television stations reaching more than 250 million households throughout China.
