The Digital Village ("TDV") is a new multiple media publishing company that applies its own brands and characters and those of other joint venture licenses to three different media: Internet publishing; CD-ROM publishing and broadcast television. TDV will create a wide range of excellent content software by bringing together the best creative minds and the best new technologies. The founders of TDV have a wide range of experience in television, print publishing, online publishing, digital technology, rights management and have reputations for original ideas.

TDV's strategy is to create partnerships: with technology companies (the first of which will be announced at Milia '96); with communication networks (the company is negotiating a CD-ROM led publishing deal with a major US distributor); and with individual creative talents.

Creative Director Douglas Adams said, "Technology is just technology. Art is just art. It's when you bring the two together that explosions happen. First cinema, then radio and television. Now we have technologies beyond the dreams of science fiction, and when the real creative artists finally get to grips with them earthquakes will happen. That's how we see our job - purveyors of earthquakes".

The company was founded by:

Douglas Adams, Creative Director and the acclaimed author of the Hitch Hiker's Guide series of novels,

Richard Creasey, Creative Director and former Director of Special Projects at Central Television,

Mary Glanville, Director of International Development, formerly Commercial Director for International Business at Central Television,

Richard Harris, Technical Director, formerly Managing Director of The Internet People,

Robbie Stamp, Managing Director and award winning documentary film producer,

Ian Charles Stewart, business and financial adviser to TDV and a founding partner of WiReD Magazine and its Internet offshoot HotWired,

Ed Victor, literary agent, and the Hon. Alex Catto are Non Executive Directors.

The Digital Village intends to create an enormous resource for itself: a digital multimedia database. Anything TDV creates, in any medium, from a film clip of a farm gate to an object oriented 3-D software model of a spaceship engine, will always be instantly accessible to our TV, CD-ROM and online teams, whether they are working in our first home base - or hub - in London, or in any of the satellites that will be set up worldwide as the company grows.

To quote Managing Director Robbie Stamp, "Digital technology allows us to rethink the way we manage information of all kinds internally, provides us with the opportunity to do things more cost effectively and allows small companies to reach new markets. Our long term ambition is a global network of creative companies linked by online and satellite communications technology providing a spectrum of choice in entertainment both for their local and for international markets."

The Digital Village will establish a major presence on the Internet and offer a wide range of innovative services. TDV recognises that the most successful Web sites will deliver two things: their own original content and intelligent navigation services to the rest of the Web. One of the first and most important TDV services will therefore be The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Internet. This will be a highly editorialised, personal and opinionated guide to what's out there. As it develops, TDV will create intelligent automated services which will provide a personalised, dynamic and truly interactive interface to the Web.

The content TDV develops for its online services will complement and enhance its work in other media as well as building services unique to the online world.