Former Universal Executives Have Big Plans for MMG.

A tech startup's chances of survival are always a crapshoot, but the newly launched Santa Monica-based Massive Media Group has two cards up its sleeve: an innovative solution to the problem of preventing creative content from being pirated off the Internet, and the Hollywood adage that it's about who you know.

Former top Universal Studios Inc. executive and now Massive Media Group Chief Executive Howard Weitzman put together a management team that includes such names as Frank Biondi, former Universal Studios and Viacom chief, and Greg Meidel, former chairman of Studios USA and Universal Studios Television Group.

MMG is selling a software system that both protects and gives owners greater business control over digital content, be it new movies or beloved Golden Era television shows. The core technology was developed by Santa Clara-based InterTrust Technologies Corp., with which MMG forged an agreement to market and to cooperatively develop new applications in the entertainment and advertising industries.

The first and largest hurdle MMG faces, however, is getting the notoriously slow-moving studio behemoths to bite. That's where the long resumes in the entertainment industry come in.

"We all have Rolodexes that get us meetings with the decision-makers, who have so far been eager to see what we have to offer," Meidel said.

"Then it all comes down to performance," continued Weitzman. "We have to prove that the technology really works. No one doubts that the future of entertainment lies in the digital world. The question is how."

What distinguishes MMG's and InterTrust's system from standard encryption methods is that it protects material sent over the Web, satellite system or even a wireless phone after the first person decrypts the file. Nothing currendy stops someone from buying a popular CD via digital download, then e-mailing the music to all his or her friends. The InterTrust software stays embedded in the content for its entire journey, preventing any unauthorized eyes or ears from having access.

The technology is just as much a business tool as a security one. Owners of the content can make whatever rules they want. The music enthusiast could e-mail his friends that album, for a price per head. Or a movie studio might encourage teen-agers to e-mail promotional trailers to their friends by giving them a free ticket to a screemng.

Advertising and e-commerce opportunities could follow the content around cyberspace. A host of new business practices and -- theoretically -- new revenue streams should be opened up to the entertainment industry.

"When I sat through all those strategic planning meetings at the studios, there wasn't a presentation that didn't include a line about how to bring in additional revenue," Meidel said. "Now I can go back and tell my friends that I have what we were all looking for."