Hal Hassall will be joining us at 10am on March 28th in MPAC for an Insider’s View seminar on convergence media!
Hal Hassall
Director of Convergence
CMT.com
An MTV Networks Company
A native of Tennessee, Hal Hassall studied engineering at Vanderbilt University before transferring to the University of Tennessee, where he completed both his B.S in business administration and his M.B.A. Launching his career in the advertising agency world in 1983, he joined Endata Inc., a provider of software and information processing services, where he held a number of positions, including manager of corporate communications, manager of strategic planning, manager of human resources and national account sales executive. During the late 1980s, Hassall moved into the television industry with New York-based Direct Media Inc.
In 1993, as vice president and general manager, Hassall helped launch Florida-based MOR Music Television, the first 24-hour music video-based home shopping channel, reaching 20 million U.S. households on cable and satellite television. After working many years in the information technology and television industries, he made the jump to the Internet in 1994 with the launch of MORMusic.com, one of the first e-commerce sites for recorded music on the Web. In 1999, he joined Country.com (now CMT.com) as manager of e-commerce to create an Internet e-commerce business unit within CBS Cable, comprised of TNN: The Nashville Network, CMT: Country Music Television and the newly launched Country.com.
Since CMT and CMT.com’s merger with MTV Networks, Hassall’s role evolved significantly. As director of convergence, he is responsible for the development and integration of the network’s music and talent department, in addition to overseeing e-commerce, advertising and promotion to expand and solidify CMT’s brand presence on the Web. With Hassall’s assistance, CMT.com has become the most popular country music destination on the web (#10 among all music sites), providing pre-release album listening parties for 150 record releases a year, sweepstakes attracting over 5 million participants a year and the largest streaming on demand country music library on the web (currently over 850 music videos). During this 2005, his focus will expand to include CMT’s launch of its digital music service (commercial music downloads) and new wireless applications such as the recently launched Vcast service on Verizon Wireless.