The American dream

Sheeraz Hasan, friend to the stars and founder of Hollywood.TV explains why he is launching Dubai.TV.

Sheeraz Hasan is a busy man. "Yes Tom, sure Tom. Okay Tom, I'll catch you later."

Who's Tom? Quite possibly Tom Cruise, or Tom Jones or Tom Petty. The founder and CEO of Tinseltown Media Group is in Raffles Dubai hotel, planning the next stage of his quest to conquer the media world, with the help of his celebrity friends.

When it comes to getting people's attention, the man who launched Hollywood.TV, has few rivals. His Internet TV station Hollywood.TV has a global reach of 1 billion people in 270 countries around the world.

After less than twelve months in business, his company has been valued at over US$1bn. Prior to Hollywood.TV, he was the creator of the hit television show Tinseltown TV which aired to over half a billion people around the world and single-handedly united the world's two biggest film industries, Hollywood, representing 3.6 billion worldwide fans, and Bollywood, representing 3.8 billion worldwide fans.

"It's going pretty well, but this is just the beginning. I have hardly started," says Hasan.

Hasan's biggest brand so far is Hollywood.TV. He uses the Hollywood.TV website to showcase every move of the world's biggest celebrities, including Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Britney Spears, Madonna and Paris Hilton.

"It's Hollywood as it Happens." To Hasan, landing the worldwide recognisable Hollywood.TV website name was "a gift from God" since from the moment Hasan acquired the name, he has been inundated by some of Hollywood's biggest elite corporations and investment banks trying to acquire the billion dollar brand, even before he launched it.

"To me, the internet and television are actually one entity. The word "TV" is a brand that is recognised around the planet, without the need for any explanation and it emphasises internet media in the form of video. I also believe that "Hollywood" falls into the same category of worldwide instant brand recognition - it needs no explanation as it emphasises the biggest celebrity market in the world," he says, adding: "Companies have to spend billions of dollars to let the world know what their brand means. I don't need to spend a dollar educating my audience about what the phrase ‘Hollywood.TV means. I view domain names as real estate. With Hollywood.TV it's simple - when it comes to entertainment, I have the hottest real estate online today."

The Hollywood.TV website uses its innovative business model of offering photographs and video clips of the biggest celebrities in the world, and counts the world's largest networks and media conglomerates among its clients, including CBS, CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, ET, The Insider, SKY, BBC - plus the likes of Reuters and YouTube.Hollywood.TV's website averages over 1,000,000 views per day and that number is growing considerably due to its tremendous global exposure.

Needless to say, by reporting on everything that happens in Hollywood, Hollywood.TV has made Hasan a household name in the US, with the likes of Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood and countless other Hollywood "A-list" celebrities heaping lavish praise on the British born Muslim, now dubbed "The Muslim American Dream".

But beyond the hype and admirable self-promotion is a serious business: Top Silicon Valley analysts have stated that Sheeraz Hasan's online assets are worth in the multi-billions of dollars.

Hasan's prominence in Hollywood has led to him being recognised and awarded around the world. He has already been featured in Fortune Magazine, Forbes, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Financial Times.

Last month Hasan was recognised by The Independent newspaper in Britain as one of the 20 Most Powerful Brits making it in America.

So what next? Hasan is currently in Dubai planning his next big launch, Dubai.TV. On Dubai.TV viewers worldwide will be able to access and watch everything that happens in Dubai, 24 hours per day, seven days a week, on demand.

"With Dubai.TV, once I acquired the brand, I knew I had struck gold," Hasan says. "Every time Dubai is in the news and every time Dubai is announcing a theme park, an island, or the tallest building in the world, the stock of my company rises. It happens each time the name Dubai is on television, the internet, radio or in the newspapers. It's simple. On Dubai.TV all I have to do is cover every event from celebrity parties, to fashion shows, to real estate developments, to product launches, to exhibitions, and the world will for the first time get the taste of one of the greatest cities in the world, the city of Dubai," Hasan says.

Dubai.TV will be a global portal with video content promoting Dubai's tourism, business, real estate and entertainment to the world. "It's Dubai as it happens," says Hasan.

"The biggest market that I am going to connect Dubai.TV to is America. Before Dubai.TV came along, there has never been a company in the world that promotes Dubai on a daily basis to the biggest stars in Hollywood or the American people. With Dubai.TV, those days are over," adds Hasan.Hasan plans to go public with both Dubai.TV and Hollywood.TV at Google, MySpace and Facebook valuations. "I already know my companies are worth billions," Hasan says.

"But it's not about the money. On Dubai.TV, my mission on a daily basis is for Hollywood and America to fall in love with the City of Gold, Dubai," he says.

Dubai.TV will be hosted by Janeen Mansour, who worked with Hasan on Hollywood.TV. The launch of Dubai.TV later this year is likely to immediately add US$500m to the company's valuation.

"Our mission on a daily basis is to promote the business, tourism, entertainment and real estate in the emirate to the biggest stars in Hollywood and around the world on Dubai.TV. Now for the first time, every business, every brand in Dubai will have a portal to promote their product to the biggest stars in Hollywood and to an international audience of over 1 billion people in over 270 countries," says Hasan.

"If it's happening in Dubai, it's on Dubai.TV."

Sheeraz will be taking the best content throughout the week that has been uploaded on Dubai.TV and will be showcasing it on a half hour television show once a week throughout the Middle East, America and the world.

Hasan will soon also launch additional digital assets he owns in his multi-billion dollar empire including Sports.TV, Muslims.TV, Medicine.TV, History.TV, Immigration.TV, LA.TV, Millionaires.TV, Billionaires.TV, NFL.TV, and Nascar.TV, and AbuDhabi247.TV.

Abu Dhabi based Hydra Properties is the main sponsor of Hollywood.TV. The company is headed by real estate mogul Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim who chose Hollywood.TVas the vehicle to promote Hydra Properties' worldwide real estate projects to the biggest stars in Hollywood.

"Because of its sponsorship of Hollywood.TV, Hydra Properties is now far and away the best known Arab real estate company in Hollywood," Hasan says, adding: "The real estate projects that Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim is doing in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are in a class of its own, and so for me Hydra Properties was the number one choice of sponsor for Dubai.TV. The funny thing is that Hydra Properties has not only become a household name in Hollywood, but Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim is now known in America as the "Prince of Hollywood," he claims.

The way things are going, Hasan himself could soon be the King of Hollywood.

RELATED LINK:The king of spin