Turner Broadcasting plans to launch a free broadband site of original comedy and community features. The ad-supported site, "Super Deluxe," is slated to go live in Jan. 2007. While the channel will be housed online, Turner will offer its content on cable TV's Video-On-Demand, wireless devices and personal media players.
Super Deluxe will feature comedy from established and up-and-coming comics, offering each a separate area, which will include a blog and a space to promote upcoming performances. Original programming will include short films and sketches, as well as episodic series. Community tools let site visitors create profiles, rate and share content, upload video and communicate with artists.
The site will aim to deliver "television-quality programming," according to Super Deluxe's Senior VP/GM Drew Reifenberger, at a time when the most popular online comedy clips are often found on multi-subject potpourri sites like YouTube.
Turner has already launched broadband channels for CNN and its two marquee cable entertainment networks, TNT and TBS, as well as "GameTap," a subscription-based broadband channel that offers videogames.
