New Mobile TV Network for Digital Devices

Larry King to headline mobile TV

Mexican mogul Slim underwrites new network for digital devices

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  Photo: JB Lacroix/WIreImage Ramin Talaie/Corbis

  Larry King, left, will do an interview show on the Net TV network planned by Carlos Slim, right. 
  By Russell Adams Tuesday, March 13, 2012
  
  Former CNN talk show host Larry King is reprising his old role in a new format with the launch of an Internet television network backed by Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim.

The network, called Ora.TV, will stream shows to computers, tablets, phones, Internet-connected televisions and other devices, and plans to launch later this year. It’s not clear how much of the programming will be in English and how much in Spanish.

King will host an interview show like the one he had at CNN for 25 years through 2010, and be involved in a couple other projects that veer sharply from that format, said Jon Housman, chief executive of the network. He declined to elaborate on plans for any of the programs beyond the talk show.

Housman had previously been president of digital journalism initiatives for News Corp., which also owns The Daily.

Ora.TV is one of an expanding number of online programming ventures seeking to bypass traditional TV by distributing directly to consumers who increasingly are watching video on handheld and other devices. Google’s YouTube is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fund new channels that will be available anywhere.

“The whole space has matured nicely and is poised for explosive growth,” Housman said.

The network is being funded by America Movil, the Latin American wireless giant that Slim controls. Arturo Elias Ayub, Slim’s spokesman and son-in-law, declined to disclose the size of the investment. “We are going to invest whatever is necessary to make this channel successful,” he said.

The programming will be completely advertising-supported. Housman said that in the last couple years, advertisers have started to follow the “massive” amount of viewers of streaming video.

– NewsCore