Leo Laporte’s TWiT Networks officially launched its new studio with a broadcast of its flagship This Week in Tech show yesterday after dozens of staffers and fans marched from the old TWiT cottage to the new facilities in downtown Petaluma, CA. For TWiT, the move wasn’t just about having more space, but also about positioning itself as a network that focuses on live streaming consumer technology coverage — something the TWiT CEO called “the CNN of Tech” in a recent interview with GigaOM.
The entire procession, as well as Laporte’s ribbon cutting, was streamed live online and has since been documented in a TWiT live special that also offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the technology used in the new building. Laporte revealed during the following This Week in Tech show that the new studio cost his company a total of $ 1.2 million. The facilities are equipped with some 40 cameras spread across a number of different sets, which utilize state of the art LED lighting technology.
TWiT began as a technology audio podcast in 2005, but Laporte and his team have since aggressively moved into the video space, launching live streaming and a number of shows on subjects like Android, Apple, security and daily tech news. The entire company has been bootstrapped without any outside investment. Laporte raised some money for the new facilities though selling commemorative bricks and said during the inaugural This Week in Tech broadcast from the new studio yesterday that 1,000 bricks have so far been sold.
Check out this video from a few weeks ago, featuring Laporte and Kentzell showing GigaOM readers the still unfinished studio:
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