Looking for someone to take my idea into fruition

[BMSprint]

My 9th grade English teacher runs a film production business but also tapes the high school football games to air on the local ads-all-day cable channel and for the real money, tapes weddings for clients. His work inspired me to come up with the idea that eventually led to my desire to start a TV channel.

He has no time to help, so everyone knows. I live in a community that is very poor with almost no external money coming in from other areas. It is semirural although technically a city but ultimately many more people want to sell land than want to buy it, so property is cheap. Jobs are needed and anything to attract customers from other cities would be a godsend, so I believe this project is worthwhile.

The channel will honestly be primarily music oriented. Initially I wanted to do a few more original shows with other topics, but that is just feasibly too expensive. I am aiming to build a studio or buy or rent one of the many abandoned factories or the abandoned automall here which will house the studio for one to two original shows and the equipment needed to get on the air. I have companies which can get this equipment.

Ultimately, I am not looking for someone to finance my business. In order to make it easier and more attractive, I want someone to start this business as their own. My job will be as an employee in management, a cohost of one show, and I will own an independent production company to produce the one show I want to work on for the channel. I expect startup costs no less than $250K, but that probably would be enough to do the bare minimum necessary. The fact that you will own the business is also to make you more comfortable for working so closely with me, a 16 year old with a good idea.

Profits will vary wildly based on viewership. I can get us on the local cable company for sure. I will target smaller cable companies with the proposal first and will slowly go to larger ones to hopefully make them more comfortable. One major benefit to them will be no subscriber fee, which is a fee, believe it or not, they pay to every content provider other than local stations that choose to force cable companies to air their programs. Ultimately, I hope to start off on the higher tier of cable or satellite options, but once we prove to have viable content I expect that situation will improve.

I know what is necessary legally to start a TV channel and how to physically do so, as well as how to approach the cable companies. I will not require much control of all financial aspects, I only expect to be sort of a programming director. I am looking to have the option to buy out the channel in the future if it survives. Quite possibly all we need is someone a bit more viable than I to apply for a bank loan, which I would be turned down for based on age and lack of any viable assets. I can afford to start the production company I intend to own myself, because essentially it will have no employees.

Business plan has not been written because I am interested in learning the goals, ideas and options from the person who will be chosen to own this business. Thanks in advance!

[jandmsolution]

Your in 9th grade and you know what LEGALLY needs to be done. Please explain in detail than what legally needs to be done. I can do the fund raising for you but I really want to know. No one will take out a loan for some else. Trust me. No business plan. No one can do anything until you get one.

[BusinessAdviser]

As an investor, I would avoid this opportunity. Not a good industry, not a good market, not a good anything, from what I can see here. However, I still wish you luck in following your dreams, since it seems like something you are passionate about.

[BMSprint]

I responded via pm to jandmsolution, but I do want to clear up one point that I am not in the 9th grade currently, that was in the past tense.

CBS Corp. and Viacom, when they split into those two companies, placed CBS and UPN, or now their half in the CW, into the stable earnings but little growth potential side of CBS Corporation, while Viacom inherited MTV Networks which includes Spike and Nick as well as BET which they considered high growth potential. Perhaps that means something, but I do know that major TV companies rarely struggle with money to produce good shows and the popular networks usually even cancel shows based on low ratings and not "we're losing money," just 'we're not making as much as we could be."

The problem will be getting popular, you're right. It's an uphill struggle but most businesses are. At least I'm not on here making crazy promises like the "double your investment in six months" I've seen. Irregardless, though, the channel format I have devised sometimes won't even require any employees present at all.

[BusinessAdviser]

So why not produce some shows from home or somewhere else, throw them on youtube, see the response. If it's a flop, you save the money. If it's not, you bootstrap the success into growth.

[rogercbryan]

If you ever want to have a chance at making this work you will need to find a way to do it on your own. Everyone has ideas yet only a small percentage of the ideas ever become businesses. The main reason for that is most people with the ideas want someone else to do the work. This is not how it works. In a start-up you need to be the person giving the idea a life. I think this idea would be a HUGE undertaking no matter who did it.

I like Jonathan's idea. The cost basis for getting a few shows up on youtube is low (extremely low compared to starting a full TV Station). If you can come up with some original ideas that brings in viewers you will be able to grow you idea. Move slow and move right... you'll be better off in the long run.

[paul2145r]

YouTube will make a great testbed to see whether or not this venture is worth further investment.

You can also set up a website and offer a weekly and/or daily podcast. You may run into some limitations as far as copyrights go, however.