United in the belief that TV sucks and they could do it better, Simon Assaad and David Carson formed Heavy in 1999. Practically out of the gate, Heavy won acclaim and lots of traffic for its trailblazing and irreverent original shows. Business 2.0 cited Heavy as being “a bit like a TV network, albeit one that makes MTV look like PBS.” TV Guide said Heavy was “so glossy and hip-looking it hurts” and that it is “one of the most consistently entertaining lineups of offbeat programming on the Net.”

Carson and Assaad first met in the late 90s when they collaborated on pioneering interactive advertising campaigns for Ogilvy & Mather that won most every major ad industry award. An unlikely duo, Assaad hails from Australia where he ditched law school to come to New York to wait tables until he could break into entertainment; Carson, raised in Nebraska and trained at the Oberlin Conservatory, ventured to New York to be a musician. The two quickly learned that they could do award-winning commercial work for leading brands in order to pay the bills for what they really loved to do: create content for Heavy.com.

Today, Heavy combines its own unique programming with those of its users to create an environment where you can control and even participate in your own media experience. Heavy empowers its audience to share, editorialize, and create their own content as well as provide its own library of programming, which includes staples like Superficial Friends, Kung Fu Jimmy Chow, The Massive Mating Game, Heavy News, Heavy’s Angels, Contagious, Blisster and Tourettes Cowboy. Portions of Heavy’s library of animation and live-action shorts are now available on Verizon V-Cast, Verizon Fios, Comcast VOD, Tivo, Sony PSP, Apple iPod and Joost. Advertisers on the broadband network include Coors, Nissan, Panasonic, Diesel, Axe, Sony and Nike.