Just when we thought the idea of professionally produced TV shows for the web was in hiatus, Microsoft has come along and revived the idea. According to this scoop by Lorne Manly in today’s New York Times, Microsoft will unveil today a series of deals to create Hollywood-produced programming for its MSN portal.
The first is a multimillion dollar deal with producer Ben Silverman and his company Reveille to create 10 pilots for web-friendly shows. These aren’t going to be just lean-back programs, however. The shows will be built so that users can interact or interactively respond in some fashion.
To harness the Web’s attributes, many of the shows and applications will wrap around them community offshoots, commerce opportunities and the ability to dig deeper for related segments or information. Product placement, a specialty of Mr. Silverman, will also be an integral part of the programming.
Moreover, picking up on what seems to be a mini-trend of backwards migration, Silverman will also have the option of turning the web-based programs into full-fledged shows aimed at the TV set, with Microsoft sharing in any profits of that “secondary” market.
This is Microsoft’s second bite at the original web programming business — in a premature move, the company spent (and wasted) tons of money in the late-90s to create original “TV” shows for the Internet. However, despite rival Yahoo’s difficulties in producing high-end video content for the web, the timing may be right now given the proliferation of video-friendly broadband and the obvious popularity of other early-stage web entertainment efforts.
Cynthia Brumfield at 7:32 AM|Comments(0)
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