Former Phillips VP launches his first newsletter, on "streaming media technology".

A high-priced newsletter, Firehose, and an e-mail service that focuses on the "streaming media technology" is the flagship publication of a new b-to-b company called GRID, of Potomac, Md., that will acquire and operate media properties.

David Shaw, former vice president of Phillips Business Information, is the president of GRID, which launched the $795/year twice-monthly last month to serve the information needs of Hollywood studios, broadcasters, record companies, publishers and other content executives who want to "understand and profit from streaming media technology."

Shaw explained the unusual name, Firehouse, saying that the "media information that streams over the internet is dribbling right now but as broadband internet access grows this information will stream across the internet like a firehouse.

"This market looks a lot like the video market looked 20 years ago when the movie studios didn't know what to do with video cassette recorders," Shaw said. "They basically thought of them as piracy devices and yet it turned into the largest single revenue stream for studios."

Shaw continued: "Phillips is one of the great finishing schools for newsletter people. I came in as a magazine person and learned the newsletter business as well as, I hope, teaching them something about the magazine business."

Before he joined Phillips, where he oversaw the launch of a number of products, including mm's b-to-b, he served as group vice president of Advanstar Communications.

Shaw also announced that GRID has acquired two newsletters, Hollywood Aftermarket (12x, $495/year) and the AIM Report (12x, $550/year), from a former colleague, Tom Adams, president of Carmel, Calif-based Adams Media Research. Adams will become GRID's editorial board chairman and continue "to grow AMR's research and consulting business.

"GRID will make an immediate investment in expanding the frequency and reach of each newsletter," Shaw said. The plan is to make these publications biweekly and to increase the subscription price to $795. Meanwhile, he also plans to increase the frequency of Firehose to weekly.

Hollywood Aftermarket focuses on the "filmed entertainment marketplace, and covers the business models of the post-theatrical movie markets: video, video-on-demand, cable and broadcast television."

AIM Report serves investors and executives in the "interactive media industry."

Shaw said both newsletters will continue to feature AMR's "proprietary financial models and projections" which allow investors and content-owning executives "to navigate new business and media models."