Dear Friends,

This is the largest milestone in Newschoolers.com’s history and we could not be more excited.   We have just signed an aquistion deal, with Studio411 a division of Sportnet, that will bring Newschoolers into the powerhouse of websites and  create a home for the community of our sport that you deserve.

NS Management, our management company that has been running the site since Harvey passed on the torch, will continue to run the site just as before.   Everyone who makes Newschoolers.com what it is today will remain in place but we will be given an influx of resources like we have never imagined.  Live streaming video?  Done!  Sportnet has already successfully broadcasted lots of skate and snow contests and events and has a production department ready to activate at any event we want to cover.   So yes, now NSTV can come back and it will be better than you ever imagined.   Three cameras with different cuts and an announcer?  Oh yeah! We’re talking full camera crew, behind the scenes, and upfront action. No “Stair-i-lyzer” kind of crap like made for TV X Games coverage just all skiing straight to you. 

Who else works with them?  Well, Wasserman Media Groupowns Sportnet / Studio411.  Studio411 helps out some of our sports’ best producers like Poorboyz, Plèhouse and MSP.   Hell, it was Johnny Decesare who called us one night saying, “Dude, I just hooked you up with the best people you can imagine.” Bam, now we’re partners with many of the great producers, filmers and media outlets in our sport. 

Let me tell you the story of how it happened…

I was contacted by David Brooks, one of the original guys at 411 Video Magazine, that was sold to WMG three years ago, after Johnny D put the two of us in touch.  He told me that his company was very impressed by our site and you guys and interested in the acquisition of Newschoolers.com.  I immediately brought the issue to Chris and Paul, and all three of us thought it was a pretty silly idea, and that we would never sell.   WMG wanted to fly us to LA to meet with them and even though we were never going to accept, we decided what the hell? Can’t harm anything to take a free trip!  Plus… so many rappers talk about LA, its got to be cool.  I mean what if we saw Ice Cube? How dope would that be?

When we got to LA we met with Brooks briefly and then he took us to talk with his superior.  They were pretty straight up about wanting to buy NS.   Whether we accepted or not was totally fine but they wanted us to be aware of their vision for this partnership. They wanted to give us the resources to pay staff properly and hire journalists at good rates.  We would receive a budget that would allow us to kill it like NS has never killed it before. 

Think about the access we have all of a sudden. Now NS works with the same crew as  Johnny Decesare and all of PBP, Plèhouse, and MSP. Now we’ve got access to exclusive footage, live events and all kinds of other shit like that as well as athletes and content across a lot of sports.  

When we started talking about this deal seriously and decided that we wanted to partner with WMG, we called up Harvey and said, “here’s what we’re doing, we want to give you a cut, you in?” NS started as some tiny ass little bedroom project in Harvey’s parents’ house for a couple of buddies to get some exposure and grew into this international beating heart of the ski scene. I mean, the guy worked at a shoe store for a few years just to keep the servers online. When you’ve got that much heart, you get paid, and that’s how the world should be.

Some people have this crazy idea that success is bad and that we won’t be core anymore in the face of growth.  Fuck that, I say. Now it’s time for us to band together and take the skiing world by storm.  It has been way too long that average people who ride don’t have a voice. 

Now it’s our turn.  NS is making its move on the world and you’re all invited to come along. You have helped  make us what we are today and we want you along for the ride to the next level.   Watch out for some of the sickest shit you can possibly imagine, it’s coming soon.

Next year is going to be off the chains.  Mark my words.

-Mr. Bishop