By Carly Mayberry
E! Networks is launching a broadband channel that will deliver
streaming video and original content exclusively for the Web, the
channel said Tuesday at the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour
in Pasadena.
Dubbed "The Vine @ E! Online," the channel will raise its virtual
curtain during E!'s "Live From the Red Carpet: Golden Globe Awards"
preshow broadcast Monday and will showcase the simulcast in addition
to the ceremony's postshow highlights packaged to be seen by online
viewers.
The initiative follows such other models as MTV's " Overdrive," VH1's
"V Spot" and Comedy Central's "MotherLoad" into the growing trend for
using broadband as an extension of a network's traditional
programming.
"Our programming style and presentation are a natural fit in terms of
attaching the E! brand to the new media platforms that seem to swell
in number by the week," E! Networks president and CEO Ted Harbert
said.
Offering original content as well as streamed video from the upcoming
unscripted series "#1 Single," starring singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb,
"Vine" also will include celebrity interviews, movie trailers,
outtakes and sneak peeks from other E! shows. The channel will be
organized into six categories, including "E! News & Gossip," "What's
Hot," "Red Carpet," "Wild Zone," "Movies" and "E!TV Bonus."
To lure online viewers to its initial broadcast, a 20-minute package
of choice moments compiled from the evening's preshow will be made
available exclusively to those online and will remain available for
several days. The original content also will be distributed for mobile
devices and to subscribers of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite
Radio.
Also announced at the E! session of the TCA tour was the hiring of
Debbie Matenopoulos ("The View") as the fourth member of the new cable
team that will cover the red carpet before award ceremonies. She joins
Ryan Seacrest -- a lead anchor and managing editor at "E! News" --
Isaac Mizrahi and Giuliana DePandi, also a lead anchor at "E! News."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.
NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at
http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or)
http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html
For more news headlines from Reuters, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html
Carly Mayberry (reuters@telecom-digest.org)