Jonathan Taplin

Co-Chairman, Co-Chief Executive

Intertainer Inc.

Santa Monica

Americans spend billions of dollars to buy movies, music and video games to take home and enjoy whenever they like.

Jonathan Taplin is convinced that will change with the advent of broadband, which will let consumers directly access movies, music and other entertainment through their TVs and computers.

“We want what we want when we want it,” says Taplin. “With broadband technology, there’s no reason we can’t get (entertainment) on demand.”

With that in mind, Taplin co-founded Intertainer Inc. in 1996 to begin assembling the massive entertainment libraries that will be necessary to satisfy what’s expected to be a huge demand. He already has agreements that will supply content from media giants like MGM, Disney, PBS, ESPN, Universal Studios and DreamWorks SKG.

And in recent months, Intertainer has assembled selections of films and music videos that were used as part of broadband trials in Manhattan, Philadelphia and Denver.

After becoming convinced that broadband will revolutionize the delivery of home entertainment, Taplin formed Intertainer with Richard Baskin and Jeremiah Chechik.

It was a logical step for the 51-year-old Taplin, who graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and who has been part of the entertainment industry for a quarter century. He has done everything from work as a tour manager for Bob Dylan to produce the film “Mean Streets” for director Martin Scorsese.

He also spent 10 years with Disney helping develop entertainment offerings.

Taplin sees a time when broadband will allow content developers to provide entertainment with a twist.

Say you’re watching a PBS show on the history of Los Angeles. With interactive TV, you could pause the show at a particularly interesting point and access an interview with a historian or review books or music from that era. When you’re done, you could restart the show.

Margot Carmichael Lester