ABC FAMILY GOES BROADBAND
ABCFamily.com will relaunch this summer as a robust media site that includes a broadband channel (dubbed WATCH), a digital networking (think MySpace), an interactive gaming area, and downloadable shortform content. Watch will offer streaming of full-length episodes of its original series, as well as user uploaded videos. "ABC Family's target audience hits the sweet spot of the digital lifestyle," said Albert Cheng, VP Digital Media. "With the incredibly high percentage of young adults using broadband, it makes perfect sense to evolve the definition of ABC Family beyond the television set and into a new hybrid channel not only with rich video content, but also with social networking capabilities."

THIS IS AL-JEZEERA
Al-Jazeera, the English-language version of the Arab broadcast network, is poised to sign a deal for U.S. distribution. Managing director, Nigel Parsons, told reporters the network would be available to 3 million households by June, in time for the World Cup tournament in Germany.

THIS IS YOUR BIG BROTHER
CBS is planning an all-star edition of Big Brother, with a twist. Viewers will help cast the show from a pool of 20 former players. Executive producer, Allison Grodner, said that 12 or 14 players will ultimately move into the house, depending on how the public votes. However, producers retain the right to cast some players who aren't audience favorites. There's no word on a premiere date yet, but insiders speculate it will be Thursday, July 6.

COMEDY CENTRAL LOOKING FOR THE MOTHERLOAD
Comedy Central is looking to beef up its online broadband channel MotherLoad by encouraging amateurs to send in 1-5 minute "test pilots." Live-action, animation, sketch, or hidden-camera -- any format is acceptable. The only prerequisite: It shouldn't suck. The comedy network is parnerting with sibling iFilm.com to create an online competition for these amusing shorts. People can send submissions from May 22 - Aug 24. Network staffers will choose three "test pilots" a week from all of the submissions, streaming them onto the Comedycentral.com Web site. Online users will cast their votes, and the highest-rated submission each week becomes a semifinalist. Comedy Central executives and online users will jointly select the overall winner, who comes away with a deal to produce a series for MotherLoad. Lou Wallach, senior VP of original programming and development, said, "I think we'll get a lot of good stuff. There may be a two-minute series out there that could work just as well as a 22-minute series."

TNT EXPLODES WITH ORIGINAL CONTENT
TNT and Ridley Scott are collaborating on The Company, a six-part miniseries based on Robert Littell's bestselling Cold War epic, for Summer 2007. Company joins the growing lineup of TNT originals, which includes the second season of The Closer, and new EMT drama series Saved (June); Stephen King's eight-part event Nightmares & Dreamscapes (July); and the sequel to original movie The Librarian (Fall). Other TNT projects in development include Robert Redford's Generations, which goes back and forth in time to follow the story of three generations of a family who have all lived in the same house; The Norms, which revolves around a dysfunctional family in the South; Middletown, which centers on a high school principal and his wife as they raise both their students and their two children, one of whom is autistic; An untitled project, from David Hollander (The Guardian), about a recently separated couple who each work in the business of heart transplant surgery: She's a counselor, he's a surgeon; An untitled project, from Richard Levine and Lyn Greene (Nip/Tuck), about a top sports doctor who works with the disabled at a New Jersey rehab clinic; and an untitled project, from William M. Finkerstein and Bill Clark (NYPD Blue), about a neighborhood cop, based on Clark's experiences as an NYPD detective.

Source: Variety