It’s official, and straight from the lips of Mediaweek’s Mike Shields. Whether in reaction to AOL/Time Warner launching their retro television, broadband channel In2TV, or whether this was planned all along, TV Land is doing it. The subsidiary of Nickelodeon is launching its own broadband channel August 24th. Site surfers and fans will be able to stream full-length episodes from the network’s library and also TV Land original programming.
As of this writing, the broadband channel will be part of a larger overhaul of TVLand.com.
Each month, full episodes of a single classic series will be featured, starting with the 1960s western Daniel Boone in September, followed by Star Trek and That Girl later in the year. In addition, in September, select clips and outtakes from the misunderstanding-filled Three’s Company will be highlighted in the new channel.
While a growing number of cable networks have launched branded broadband video channels on the Web over the past year plus, most have focused on repurposing extra footage from original series owned by that particular network–such as MTV Overdrive’s Laguna Beach After Show.
Networks that rely on a heavy rotation of off network series, such as TNT or TV Land have been limited in their broadband approach, since Web rights have not always been included in such deals. With the launch, TV Land appears to found the means to address the digital rights issue for specific classic TV shows.
