LAS VEGAS -- Two months into his new job as head of Yahoo! Media Group, Lloyd Braun is still learning his way around the Internet world. But his experiences in the television industry as former co-chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group already are coming in handy. Braun discussed his role in formulating the Internet company's content strategy as well as the current success of the network he used to call home with The Hollywood Reporter television features editor Andrew Wallenstein in a morning "Coffee with" interview session Wednesday at the National Association of Television Program Executives.

The Hollywood Reporter: What led you to make a very interesting shift in your career?

Lloyd Braun: It would be disingenuous to say that when I left ABC my first reaction was, I have to go over to the Internet now. But the one thing I was pretty certain of was that I needed to move on to something that was the next exciting place in media. Not that television isn't exciting. But I never had any desire to (be) an independent producer and walk in with these scripts and go to people -- all of whom I've hired, not just at ABC but at NBC -- and say, "Do you want to buy my script?" There was no part of that that appealed to me. I just didn't have that hunger to produce. I was exploring a lot of different things when I had a fateful meeting with (Yahoo! CEO) Terry Semel. Terry, whom I had always thought of as a quiet guy, for 40 minutes did not take a breath. He started explaining to me what Yahoo! is. After 20 minutes, every bone in my body started to scream out, "I have to do this job." I didn't know what the job was -- all I knew was this sounded unbelievable.

THR: What exactly are you doing at Yahoo!?

Braun: Yahoo! right now has a very strong, deep content presence on the Web. We have 16 of these vertical sites, which I call channels -- not because they're like television. It's not going to be a place where we're going to do our version of "Alias" or "Lost" or any of those shows. But these places are young on the evolutionary scale of what they're going to look like. My job is really to define -- with this group of executives that I have -- what is Internet content going to be? Right now, we're an aggregator of information with some interesting broadband components. We have these great deals with JibJab and Mark Burnett (for extra content from NBC series "The Apprentice"). There's going to be more and more of that. But that will represent only the beginning of where this is going to end up.

THR: How has your experience in the TV business helped you at Yahoo!?

Braun: I've only been here two months, and there's an enormous amount I have learned and still have to learn. It's a beast to really get your arms around this business. But a big part of what we're going to do is advertising and interfacing with sales departments and advertisers. Well, I know that world. Measuring ratings and how those ratings then translate to CPMs (cost-per-thousand advertising rates) and all of that -- I know that world. ... Ultimately, the common theme in all of these mediums is, if you have unique compelling content, you're going to win. "The Sopranos" put HBO on the map. Milton Berle -- defining moment that showed what television can do. "I Love Lucy" -- defining moment of what a situation comedy could be. We haven't really had our defining moment yet as to the big breakout event that really shows the world and the consumer, oh my god, look what this can be. But we will.

THR: Yahoo! just announced it will be opening a huge office in Santa Monica, and there's the perception that you are the consummate Hollywood insider. Are you building relationships with the creative community?

Braun: You bet I'm going to. It's one of the reasons the move to Los Angeles makes so much sense. We're making those relationships with the young people down there, and I don't just mean in show business but across the spectrum -- and leveraging those relationships in a way you simply can't do when you're a plane ride away (in Yahoo!'s Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters). I believe we can really take advantage of that and leveraging Terry (Semel's) relationships, my relationships and the new relationships we're going to make when we're down there every day.

THR: You put in so many years at ABC when the network was struggling. How does it feel to see the fruits of your labor paying off now that you're no longer there?

Braun: It feels like you were at the craps table, you were walking out the door, your bags are packed, you're about to step on the plane and someone says, "Excuse me, you just won." What? No way! It's a great feeling for both (former ABC Entertainment president) Susan (Lyne) and for me. Maybe if I wasn't involved in such an exciting new venture, I wouldn't be able to look at it in such a positive way, but I like to think I would anyway.

THR: Yahoo! still faces some tremendous competition -- from Google, Microsoft, even the cable operators.

Braun: Google is now for me NBC, CBS and Fox all rolled into one. But the competition can be our friends. We have alliances with SBC, Verizon. We're going to have so many roles as this all evolves. It's an amazing opportunity to be involved in so many different businesses in a productive way.

THR: What will be the business model for acquiring content for Yahoo!?

Braun: I'll tell you this. I'm giving great thought that as we construct these models, that in success we are not going to create a system that does exist in television now where there are such crushing upfront costs that the whole weight of the system makes it feel like it's going to break. We have to be thoughtful not to just look at this business where it is now but where it will be five, 10 years from now. Because once we start establishing these precedents, they get very, very hard to break. I don't pretend to have the answers to this yet, but I am giving an enormous amount of thought to the issues.

THR: How do content producers go about doing business with Yahoo!?

Braun: Right now, the systems we have are not as evolved as they will be two to four months from now. We'll be able to put systems out there that everyone in the community will know, just like at ABC, you know who it was to sell a comedy or a drama. It's critical for us that we have that kind of clarity, and we will.