The popular online entertainment celebrity site TMZ.com will soon be a daily television show starting in the fall. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and the Fox Owned Television Stations have joined together for the multi-year deal. The show will simply be called TMZ.
TMZ.com is a joint venture between AOL and Telepictures Productions. They launched in December 2005 and have had millions of visitors to their Web site with breaking news reports on celebrity gossip.
The show will be aired daily during the week in half hour episodes. On the weekend it will air in one-hour episodes.
“In today’s television landscape, there is big opportunity for a younger, more gender-balanced entertainment magazine with a distinct voice and point of view,” said Ken Werner, President, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution “TMZ.com was created by Telepictures and AOL to fill a need in the broadband world for an entertainment news site run by professionals experienced in that world. In a very short time, they have established the most highly trafficked entertainment news site on the web and a brand that under the leadership of Jim Paratore and Harvey Levin will translate in a powerful way in the TV world.”
With all the celebrity gossip shows that currently are on the air it would seem that adding one more would be a difficult challenge. TMZ.com’s online audience will probably follow to the airwaves so that will definitely improve their chances of success. It seems America’s celebrity addiction cannot be fed fast enough.
Fox seems happy about the deal. “What we are buying into is a proven, immensely successful internet brand,” said Frank Cicha, Senior Vice President, Programming, Fox Television Stations. “The unique combination of broadcast and broadband this project brings makes it extremely attractive.”
Despite the vacuous content of TMZ one can only wonder how many other sites will make the jump from the Internet to TV.
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Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
