The official press release just hit the inbox. No name for the new company or the site that will be launched—although, as one executive familiar with the deal told me, “it’s all about everywhere else.” NBC Universal and News Corp. say the new venture (which they call a strategic alliance) will debut with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips—and AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo as initial distribution partners. Those sites reach 96 percent of the monthly U.S. unique users, the companies say, and their users will have unlimited access to the content. They will be able to share, embed, mix and mash. (Note: Some of that last line comes from my reporting; not the press release.)
—All of this will be supported by an ad network with ads accompanying all the content. Charter advertisers include Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, Esurance, Intel and General Motors.
—As we reported earlier today, NBCU’s George Kliavkoff will head the transition. He will be working with a group of execs from both companies; permanent staffing to be announced later. “Each company will devote a significant marketing and promotional budget to the new site’s launch.”
—At launch, shows will include full-length shows and clips—they finally figured out a way to stream House, it looks like.
—The movie list will get some attention: From the Fox side it includes Borat and Little Miss Sunshine “Post-launch, plans will be considered for acquiring additional content as well as producing and licensing original programming for the new site’s audience.”