JumpCut

JumpCut (not related to online video editing website Jumpcut.com) was founded in December 1996 and reflected the culmination of its founder, Marc Scarpa, work experience to date. The company pioneered the live webcast genre and produced, developed and executed some of the most innovative interactive programming of the time. The team, which consisted of former television and online producers, hackers and various digital artists, were extremely forward thinking and constantly looked for new ways to develop innovative programming utilizing cutting edge technologies.

The company took shape in the summer of 1996 with the Tibetan Freedom Concert. This was the first large scale streaming event in history with over 36,000 participants worldwide. Sonicnet, headed by web entrepreneur Nicholas Butterworth, was the network which sponsored and carried the event. Real Networks, Icon CMT, Audionet (later to become Broadcast.com), Digital Equipment Corp and several other emerging companies worked together to produce the live audio broadcast with near real time digital photography, chat and celebrity interviews. The entire event was produced in less than 6 weeks.

After its success Sonicnet decided to make the streaming of live concerts apart of their internet strategy in a big way. JumpCut was incubated in their office for almost a year and later moved to its own loft space in Chinatown New York. The company flourished in Silicon Alley and grew amid the boom that later became referred to as web 1.0.

Jumpcut have various projects with companies such as Ogilvy, Lucent, Microsoft, Real Networks, Broadcast.com, InterVu, Akamai, Excite and several other fortune 500 companies. JumpCut developed a brand and was seen as an innovative leader in the streaming media marketplace. By taking a programming approach to its solutions for clients, much like a traditional production company would develop a television series, JumpCut delivered experiences to their participants and not just a video on the web.

JumpCut offered creative services, engineering, live broadcast production, media hosting, media consulting, facilities build out and later branched out to include digital photography, photo licensing & syndication, flash animation design, immersive imaging and other rich media services of the time.

The company produced several ground-breaking firsts in the live interactive genre including:
* Townhall with President Bill Clinton
* Tibetan Freedom Concert '96, '97 & '98
* Woodstock '99
* Inaugural of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
* Vans Warped Tour
* A&E Live By Request Series
* Backstage at the Tony Awards
* HSX/Excite Rocks the Oscars featuring Beck
* Online Prayer with the Dalai Lama

Backed by Atlas Venture, Redwood Partners and Carthage Capital Group, this startup sold to Media Most and Getty Images in 2002. To date, many of its projects have become of historic significance as an early producer of webcast programming.