AOL To Launch In2TV in Association With WB

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As we hinted back in July when Network Live launched, AOL is planning a big, online-only TV effort focused on shows from older Warner Bros. Entertainment…the service, called In2TV, will be launched in 2006, and will include episodes of more than 100 shows.

The service will have six channels, and the companies, both part of Time Warner, will do a rev-share on advertising, including banner ads and four 15-second streaming video ads per 30-minute episode.

In2TV would launch with interactive games and six channels: LOL , the laugh-out-loud comedy channel; Dramarama; Heroes and Horrors; Rush, with “Kung Fu” and other action programming; and Vintage, which will feature “F Troop,” the once-popular western “Maverick,” and “Growing Pains.”

BW: No current shows are involved. The available material is from the Warner Bros. libraries, distributed through its domestic cable division. The deal also doesn’t involve the WB network, which is another Time Warner property.

WSJ: In2TV plans to offer 300 episodes per month and about 100 shows in the first year. Warner Bros. has cleared 300 series, or about 14,000 individual episodes, for use on the service. Clearing involved such things as determining who owns the copyrights to music the programs use. In some cases Warner replaced the original music to avoid a need to negotiate license fees for online distribution.

The service is going after a segment now dominated by Viacom’s Nick at Nite and TV Land cable networks. Those channels draw large audiences and have been highly profitable.

News.com: The service will be offered in a new DVD quality video format called AOL Hi-Q that enables high resolution, full-screen viewing to any broadband user.

B&C: Two channels will be added next year for reality shows and cancelled series, the latter perhaps becoming a clearinghouse for unseen programs.

TVWeek: AOL is projecting 4 million advertising impressions a month for advertisers–as much as a small cable channel. Ad sources said AOL is looking for full-year, $1 million advertising packages, but some buyers said they would prefer shorter-term commitments.

MultiChannel: AOL is negotiating with other studios to give it an arsenal of content…

NYT: The company will offer a changing selection of several hundred episodes each month, rather than providing continuous access to all the episodes in a series, so as not to cannibalize potential DVD sales of old TV shows. And in the future, when Warner negotiates with cable networks to syndicate popular programs, the price will be higher if the network wants it kept off the Internet

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