BRAVO BREAKS GROUND ON BROADBAND FRONT AND ANNOUNCES PLANS TO LAUNCH SUITE OF BROADBAND CHANNELS UNDER BRAVOTV.COM UMBRELLA
BRAVO BREAKS GROUND ON BROADBAND FRONT AND ANNOUNCES PLANS TO LAUNCH SUITE OF BROADBAND CHANNELS UNDER BRAVOTV.COM UMBRELLA
TRIOTV.COM, FIRST EVER TV CHANNEL TO MOVE TO BROADBAND, AND BRILLIANTBUTCANCELLED.COM TO LEAD ROLL OUT IN 2006
BRAVO TO CELEBRATE LAUNCH OF BRILLIANTBUTCANCELLED.COM WITH FIRST-EVER AIRING OF "THE JAKE EFFECT" --TV SERIES CANCELLED BEFORE IT EVER AIRED
Pasadena, California - January 12, 2006 -- Bravo breaks ground on the broadband front and announces aggressive plans to launch a suite of branded broadband channels in 2006. The two initial broadband channels being announced today are TRIOtv.com, the first-ever TV channel to move to broadband, and BrilliantButCancelled.com. Each broadband channel will be available in the U.S. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be advertiser supported. The announcement was made today by Lauren Zalaznick, President, Bravo, during Bravo's presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour.
"Broadband gives Bravo the opportunity to move beyond the constraints of a linear analog service and deliver content 24 hours a day to our devoted viewer base in the areas they are most passionate about," said Zalaznick.
The roll-out begins in January with the launch of TRIOtv.com as a stand alone broadband service and additional broadband channels will continue to roll-out throughout 2006. BravoTV.com, the overall hub under which the suite of broadband channels will live, will feature exclusive original content produced for the site including rich broadband-focused microsites from Bravo's shows ranging from "Project Runway" to "Top Chef". Not limited to what is on-air, the site will also feature exclusive video, pop culture blogs, never-before-seen interviews and footage, as well as viewer generated interactive components.
TRIOtv.com will have dedicated and exclusive programming. The critically acclaimed digital channel with a loyal and passionate following moves to broadband, as announced late last year. The original and acquired programs that made the channel a buzzworthy success will be featured through topical stunts and themes tied to Bravo and TRIO pop culture programming. Content will be provided in video-on-demand format, and will feature hidden gems from the TRIO channel library.
Original series will include the critically acclaimed original docu-series, "Parking Lot", which infiltrated parking lots -- from tattoo conventions to Cher concerts, providing a true fan perspective; and "Face Time with Kurt Andersen", featuring one-on-one interviews with the bold-faced names of popular culture. Original documentaries will include "Texas Supersized"; "Fat City"; "Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty" plus short films from the acclaimed digital film festival, RESFEST, as well as classic content like the "Mr. Bill" claymation series which made its mark on Saturday Night Live. TRIOtv.com will also feature animations, never-before-seen footage and programming events around big pop culture moments like TRIO's themed Awardsmania month.
BrilliantButCancelled.com: the first-ever broadband channel dedicated to programming that was cancelled before its time, and which, in some cases, never saw the light of day. The site will be for passionateTV lovers and will leverage the success of the critically acclaimed "Brilliant, But Cancelled" series on TRIO. Bravo will celebrate the launch of BrilliantButCancelled.com with the first-time-ever airing of the "cancelled-before-its-time" NBC comedy series, "The Jake Effect", starring Jason Bateman as a high-end lawyer who leaves his job to become a school teacher . Original content will include the TRIO original documentary "Brilliant, But Cancelled", an exploration of critically acclaimed shows that were cancelled before their time, and "EZ Streets", the dark, cinematic 1996 series written and directed by Paul Haggis ("Crash"), about a disgraced cop (Ken Olin) who goes undercover and faces off against a ruthless mobster (Joe Pantalione). CBS ran three episodes of the critically acclaimed series before putting the show on hiatus. A few months later, they ran three more episodes, then pulled it for good. In addition, Bravo is creating a "brilliantbutbroadband" section to celebrate brilliant shows that succeeded, but may not be easily available on traditional television.
Bravo is the cable network that plugs people into arts, entertainment and pop culture with original programming, acclaimed off-network dramas, comedy and music specials, movies and by showing a whole different side of celebrities. Currently available in more than 79 million homes, Bravo is known for breaking exciting new personalities, shaking up the way we look at style, media, fame and Hollywood, pulling back the curtain on the creative process and making influential and inventive original programming. Its critically acclaimed and award-winning original programming includes "Inside the Actors Studio," "Project Runway," "Celebrity Poker Showdown," and "Blow Out" as well as the 2004 Emmy winner for Outstanding Reality Program, "Queer Eye." The network's latest hits include "Being Bobby Brown" and "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List."
Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been a NBC Cable Network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980.For more information visit www.bravotv.com .
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