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Xumo founder Colin Petrie-Norris launches startup to produce AI-generated TV shows: ‘We’re taking the route of people empowerment’

Starting out as a University of Cape Town-educated structural engineer, Colin Petrie-Norris has an entrepreneurial track record for spotting foundational roles in emerging media-tech high-rises.

Most notably, he founded Xumo in 2011, nearly a decade before free, ad-supported streaming became a multi-billion-dollar global business. After selling Xumo to Comcast for $100 million five years ago, and collecting a W2 for a stretch from the cable conglomerate, Petrie-Norris is back in building mode.

Last week, he announced the launch of Fairground Entertainment, a startup that will leverage a growing creator community to produce generative-AI TV series. Viant, which backed Xumo, is leading an initial funding round of $4 million for Fairground. In our Next TMT Talks podcast, Petrie-Norris told us he plans “empowerment” for creatives, not replacement. (The link below takes you to our Next TMT homepage to hear the podcast. Once you’re there, do us a favor and click a “like,” or comment to let us know what you think. Don’t be too hard on David.)

Will a big cable merger, built with Trump-era regulatory aerodynamics in mind, face ‘60 Minutes’-force headwinds?

Their broadband growth beset by fixed wireless access and fiber competition, squeezed out of video by streamers and out of government subsidies by Republican lawmakers, and fighting for a foothold in the fiercely contested mobile market, cable companies Charter Communications and Cox Communications said Friday that they’d agreed to a merger valued at $34.5 billion. (Here’s the news release and investor deck.)

Given this backdrop, the companies’ lack of overlapping operations, and a declaration that they’re “putting America first” by repatriating Cox call-center jobs, the deal might seem destined for a smooth ride past Trump Administration regulators.

“Charter’s acquisition of Cox represents a strategic win at both a financial and operational level,” wrote LightShed Partners. “The timing of this long-anticipated deal was likely influenced by transition to a new administration, aided by the fact that neither company owns news networks or has foreign ties.”

We’ll see!