"The fact that HBO is one of the best-known brand names in the country and it is in less than one-third of the homes is rather remarkable, but not remarkable in a good way," says Larry Gerbrandt, the chief content officer for Kagan World Media, a media reserch firm.

Mark Simmer, chief content officer for the Waltham, Mass.-based Lycos, explained that it's all about bringing people to the site, getting them to linger for a while and training them to come back.

Rossetto, who has been called a micromanager by some employees, said he will be a ''full-time chief content officer'' throughout the company.