TBS Details Broadband Comedy Network

Aiming to advance video well beyond pumping established content to the masses, Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc. (TBS) on Wednesday confirmed it will be launching a broadband system to deliver original comedy content to fixed and mobile devices, along with online community tools.

Targeted at young adults, Super Deluxe will be ad-supported, making the network entirely free to consumers, and will integrate advertising in innovative ways. TBS calls it a storehouse of high-quality, exclusive, originally produced comedy combined with interactive tools.

The launch is set for January.

"Super Deluxe is not only the latest innovation from Turner Broadcasting, which pioneered such concepts as the basic-cable network and the 24-hour news channel, but also the most recent addition to the company's growing broadband network portfolio that includes CNN Pipeline and GameTap, among others," said Mark Lazarus, president of Turner Entertainment Group, in prepared comments. "Its combination of original content and extensive online community tools will make it an ideal destination for young adults eager for this type of material in a dynamic interactive environment."

"Today, the online comedy experience is largely comprised of random clips and homemade movies contained within a generic experience," said Drew Reifenberger, who will serve as Super Deluxe’s senior vice president and general manager. "Super Deluxe is focused on original, 'television-quality’ programming, presented with a distinct editorial voice and in a highly interactive and social environment. It will deliver an experience more akin to watching your favorite TV show with friends – hanging out and sharing a laugh."

Hoping to capitalize on building demand for more personal content, a frontier industry analyst sees this type of service as the next and most challenging step for providers.

Brightcove is working on a variant on the YouTube model that focuses on content producers and is aimed at providing an outlet for those who are actually producing legal content (see story).

“Since the success of personalized video in any form depends on there being a large population of content producers, this concept would be an important step,” said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corp. Companies such as Brightcove, Maven Networks Inc. and YouTube, which was recently acquired by Google, are helping address the key trend.

TBS said Super Deluxe will offer exclusive original comedy from both established and rising stars, developed exclusively for the network and celebrating the artists' creative spirit, providing comedic talents a forum to showcase and share their own inspired concepts and performances.

Each artist will have his or her own dynamic and personalized area featuring exclusive content, a blog and other opportunities to promote appearances and projects or further customize their part of the network.

Original programming will range from short films and sketches to episodic series and more. In addition to being available online, Super Deluxe content will be available via cable VoD, wireless devices and personal media players, according to the company.

Programming is just the beginning, however, according to TBS. Super Deluxe's community tools will allow fans to interact with artists and each other, adding an extra dimension of value for the consumer. Through these tools, fans can express their own sense of humor and interact with artists and others by creating their own profiles, uploading their own videos, rating and sharing content, making comments, sending messages and more. Fans can even join or create groups with other artists and users to share and discuss their favorite humorous topics, comedians or anything else that strikes their interest.

Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc. www.turner.com

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines