 Means TV Logo | |
| Type of business | Worker cooperative |
|---|---|
Type of site | OTT platform,Video game publishing |
| Founded | March 21, 2019; 6 years ago (2019-03-21) |
| Headquarters | Portland, Maine |
| Founder(s) | Naomi Burton and Nick Hayes |
| Products | |
| Services | |
| URL | means |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | February 26, 2020; 5 years ago (2020-02-26) |
Means, LLC (also known asThe Means Cooperative) is an Americanmass medialimited liabilityworker cooperative. Means was founded in 2019 by filmmakers Naomi Burton and Nick Hayes inDetroit[1] as an expansion of their video production company Means of Production.[2] Means currently has two arms, asubscriptionstreaming service offeringMeans TV and avideo game publishing arm viaMeans Interactive.
Before founding The Means Cooperative, Burton and Hayes both worked in commercial media production for automakers in Detroit and attendedDemocratic Socialists of America meetings. They began to find their work morally objectionable and left their jobs to found the video production company Means of Production.[3][4] Means of Production first came to prominence after producing a viral campaign ad[5] forAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 election campaign.[6]
Means TV is a subscription-basedvideo on demand streaming service owned and managed by The Means Cooperative. The service features films, documentaries, television series, an original news program calledMeans Morning News, and independent creators fromYouTube andTwitch.[7][8] The cooperative raised nearly $200,000[9] in its crowdfunding campaign.
The full streaming service launched February 26, 2020.
Hayes has cited the anarchist podcastStreet Fight as an inspiration for his decision to create Means TV, having worked with Street Fight to record live performances in 2017 and 2019.[10]
On Saturday, August 8, 2020 Hayes and Burton's home and office was attacked in a drive-by shooting.[11] Nobody was hurt. According to Hayes, they are "not 100% sure it wasn't politically motivated."[11] No further information about the identity of the shooters has come out.
Means Interactive is a video game publisher and subsidiary of The Means Cooperative.[12] The first game published by Means Interactive isTonight We Riot, released in May 2020 and developed by Pixel Pushers Union 512, itself a worker-owned cooperative.[13]
