| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online video delivery service |
| Founded | 1998; 27 years ago (1998) inSan Juan Capistrano, California |
| Founder | "Michael Fenne", an alias used by fugitive David Kim Stanley |
| Defunct | June 2000; 24 years ago (2000-06) |
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Headquarters | , US |
| Products | vaporware |
| Website | Archive of Pixelon website just before bankruptcy |
Pixelon was an Americandot-com company founded in 1998 that promised better distribution of high-quality video over theInternet. It was based inSan Juan Capistrano, California.[1] It gained fame for its extravagant Las Vegaslaunch party, followed by its sudden and violent decline less than a year later as it became evident it was using technologies that were, in fact, fake or misrepresented.[2] Its founder, "Michael Fenne", was actually David Kim Stanley, a convicted felon involved in stock scams who was "on the lam and living out of the back of his car" when he arrived in California two years earlier.[1][3] In the year 2000, Pixelon began to fire employees and reduce its operations until itsbankruptcy.[4][5] Pixelon ousted their management team and filed for bankruptcy in June 2000.[6]
The party event for Pixelon's product launch, called "iBASH '99", was held October 29, 1999, at theMGM Grand Las Vegas, at a reported cost of US$16 million.[2] The lineup featured performances byChely Wright,LeAnn Rimes,Faith Hill,Dixie Chicks,Sugar Ray,Natalie Cole,KISS,Tony Bennett,the Brian Setzer Orchestra, and a reunion ofthe Who.[7][8]
Pixelon announced that iBash would be broadcast over the Internet as a technology demonstration. The live stream displayed error messages to thousands of people, and most of those watching the concert did so with Microsoft's streaming software instead of Pixelon's.[9] Pixelon leased the large video screen onOne Times Square in New York City to show an eight-hour-plus live feed of the event.[10] An edited 2-hour show aired on October 30, 1999 on Pax TV (now known asIon Television).[11]
iBash was produced by Woody Fraser Productions and was hosted live byDavid Spade andCindy Margolis.[12][13] The Who later released their set as a DVD titledThe Vegas Job, featuring two short pre-show interviews withRoger Daltrey andJohn Entwistle, and a short after-crash interview with David Kim Stanley admitting toembezzlement.
The history of the company has been the subject in 2019National Geographic'sdocudramaminiseriesValley of the Boom.[14]
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