GENE SIMMONS' NO GOOD TV Withdraws Part Of IPO

According to KissKollector.com, financial experts wonder if Gene Simmons will be able to thrill Wall Street with NGTV's IPO (Initial Public Offering),after he "has thrilled rock fans for three decades as the lead singer of KISS." Turns out that NGTV (No Good TV) — with Gene as the chairman — withdrew part of its IPO Thursday (July 20) . Originally, NGTV filed a prospectus (a socalled Form S-1) on June 26 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, outlining their proposed IPO — and expecting to list its stock on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "NIG." Capital Growth Financial (a Florida-based financial services firm) is the sole underwriter of NGTV's offering.

NGTV has yet to launch its programming, but the public company hopes to do so in the last quarter of the year via a pay-per-view, video-on-demand distribution deal with In Demand (which is a joint venture owned by Time Warner, Comcast and other cable companies). And currently, NGTV is not only negotiating with Gene for a new agreement between Gene and the company, but they're also negotiating a distribution deal on the internet with Google. Gene has invested in NGTV by loaning the firm money, and after the IPO Gene will own a 4.1% stock in NGTV — if he signs a new agreement that is. Not having a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) at the moment — NGTV went through no less than three CEOs in two years — the company is headed by its co-founders Jay Vir and Kourosh Taj, who act as directors and co-presidents. Previously, the duo worked as executives at MusiTopia — a music-themed, multi-purpose retail and commercial real estate development in Los Angeles that apparently never got off the ground. Interestingly enough, Gene's partner in Simmons/Abramson Marketing, Richard Abramson, happens to be the first (co-)CEO for NGTV as he and Allan Brown were named ce-CEOs in February of 2004. Only five months later Abramson quit as CEO but continued as one of the directors, while Brown remained CEO until he got fired in February of this year. The third CEO is John Burns, who only lasted for about a month after which he said he'd sue NGTV. The company is also without a COO (Chief Operating Officer) but has offered the job to one of its directors, Al Cafaro — former chairman and CEO of A&M Records (which used to be a PolyGram/Universal label before it had to be closed down) who currently serves as co-CEO of concert production and promotion company Metropolitan Talent and also as co-CEO of independent record label Hybrid Recordings (home of the GIN BLOSSOMS, to name only one act). NGTV's Securities and Exchange Commission filing states that Cafaro has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in August of last year, after he went through some "trouble" with KISS' former record company PolyGram/Universal. As one financial expert said, while referring to some KISS tunes, "Ah, the Sweet Pain of Wall Street, it's Hotter Than Hell."