Has Vision Media TV Group assumed a new name – World Progress Report?

by Paul Alan Levy

Over the past year, several sources have discussed the deceptive solicitation techniques used by Vision Media TV Group, a Boca Raton TV production company, to drum up business from unsophisticated non-profit groups by promising to get them free air time on public television stations for a series hosted by Hugh Downs.  Vision Media sued  to force the telemarketing commentary site 800Notes.com to take down critical comments and identify its critics – that lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.   One interesting fact that emerged during the litigation was that Vision Media was itself a new incarnation of a decade-long operation that formerly operated under different names and offered public television exposure associated with names like Walter Cronkite, Morely Safer and Aaron Brown.  Each time the light of publicity shone on this scam, the operators would change names and find a new former respected newscaster to use as its lure.  Vision Media tried to change its name to Great America HD,  but eventually Hugh Downs disassociated himself from the operation when its nature was divulged. 

Now come indications that the group behind Vision Media may have adopted yet another new name, the World Progress Report, using the reputation for former Good Morning America newscaster Joan Lunden as the lure.  Explanatory text on the World Progress Report web site is lifted word-for-word from the Great America HD site (which at this writing is no longer online), and as with Great America HD, the World Progress Report web site features a long list of what appear to be paid placements on commercial cable programs over the past few years (including programming that Vision Media TV claimed it had placed), but no evidence of airing on public television stations.  It appears that someone has even gone to the trouble of creating an apparent exchange among admirers on the pages of 800Notes.com.

Update: 

Irony alert: World Progress report has "A Series To Help Consumers Identify Scams"  This press release has been widely publicized by other bloggers who assumed, from the references to public television, that the report is being shown on PBS.  Because PBS has disclaimed any relationship with Vision Media and its ilk, the World Progress Report includes a disclaimer of affiliation with PBS, taken verbatim from the old Great America HD web site.

Comments

[srmsofttech7]

When Li was 19, he appeared in his first film, Shaolin Temple. Li was already regarded as a national hero for his athletic accomplishments, and the film (the first modern kung-fu movie made in China) shot him to superstardom in China...visit
http://follo-jetli.blogspot.com clickhere check out the full information

[GetOutOfDebtGuy]

Oh my gosh. This sounds exactly like many of the debt scams I write about. It's so nice to see you on the hunt for these guys and outing them.

Poor 800notes.com got slammed and thankfully they had you on their side. It seems the Vision Media approach was to judicially attack rather than either publicly respond, engage in a dialogue, or change their ways.

The funny thing about the thread you linked to with all the positive comments about WPR is that it appears to be a shill job to say positive things and many consumers are smart enough to see right through that.

What i found interesting is that on their about us page they say they are World Progress Report, 1200 N Federal Highway ste 200, Boca Raton, FL 33486 but they are actually Worldview Productions, LLC and just filed to use the name World Progress Report as a fictitious name on July 27, 2010. Apparently Worldview Productions is a relatively new company as well having first registered in 2009 and listing it's managers as World Progress Trust and Media Solutions Trust, both listed at the same 1200 N. Federal Highway address.

The office address appears to be Davinci Virtual Office Solutions where you can create an office for $110 a month. So if World Progress Report is a trustworthy and credible resource then why are they using a virtual office and hiding behind layers of trust owners? Hum.

And what makes the story even more interesting is if the two companies are not related then it's ironic that VISION MEDIA TV GROUP LLC is owned by two trusts as well with an address on N. Federal Highway at what appears to be another maildrop office in Atrium Executive Suites.

Very interesting.