Executive shakeup at Internet Ventures

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/17/2000

Tiny high-speed cable Internet provider Internet Ventures Inc. shuffled its executive suite, installing longtime TV executive Nyhl Henson as president and CEO. Henson, whose resumé dates back to Warner Amex, replaces IVI's Don Janke, who cedes power but remains chairman of IVI's board.

Janke had struggled to sign up small-town cable systems to its Perkinet service, looking to force operators to open their networks and allow IVI on under federal leased-access rules. The company has also failed in its quest to raise money, never following through on an initial public offering filed last fall, a filing made without actually lining up any Wall Street underwriters.

Henson was a programming executive at Warner Amex in the early days of The Movie Channel and Nickelodeon. He was an early chairman of Country Music Television. In the 1990s, Henson worked at Nostalgia Network, various TV and Internet retailing ventures and, most recently, as the man to turn around children's TV producer Craftsman and Scribes Creative Workshop.