Warner Bros.’ new broadband networks, TheWB.com and KidsWB.com, will be distributed by partners Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh Networks when they launch in mid-September, Warner Bros. Television Group president Bruce Rosenblum said Wednesday.
All partners will offer full-length episodes of TV shows that will be free-of-charge to consumers, as well as plenty of other branded, interactive content.
Those distributors join Time Warner-owned AOL.com and Facebook for the channels’ initial launch, although others are likely to be announced before fall.
Most of the new partners will offer the channels on their Web sites, with Sling still in development on its new portal, Sling.com. TiVo will deliver the channels directly to consumers through their broadband-connected set-top boxes. Facebook is creating an application that will allow Facebook subscribers to integrate content from TheWB.com on to their profile pages.
Besides TheWB.com and KidsWB.com, Warner Bros. will also premiere two more broadband channels: Classics WBTV, which will offer programs from Warner Bros.’ vast TV library, and a yet-to-be-named science-fiction channel, which also will draw from Warner’s vault.
TheWB.com will offer a combination of previously aired programming -- such as Friends, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, All of Us, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, The Wayans Bros., Veronica Mars, Everwood and Roswell -- and original programming, including Sorority Forever, from producer/director McG (Supernatural, The O.C.) and online producer Big Fantastic (Prom Queen, Foreign Body). Warner Bros. also has plans to create many more original productions for the new channel.
KidsWB.com will be a highly interactive and immersive site targeted at children aged 6-12. It will draw from the libraries of Warner Bros. Animation, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics, as well as offering original kid-focused content.
