Sci Fi Channel to Create Pulse

 
By Stacy April 27, 2006





The Sci Fi Channel is the next channel to get into the internet television game. Pulse will launch on May 8th. It will start out free but there isn't any word if that will remain so. There is a lot of buzz about this right now mainly due the announcement being part of a larger announcement by Sci Fi regarding their regular programming. The buzz is also linked to the larger NBC Universal group, which Sci Fi is a part, that also has been making advances in the online market. Pulse was only one of the announcements from Sci Fi on Wednesday, the major one being the creation of Caprica, a prequel spinoff to Battlestar Galactica, probably Sci Fi's most popular show.

Pulse will have rebroadcasted shows and movies, behind the scenes footage, an exclusive news show and web only original content. The most interesting aspect to me is the plan for fan interaction.

TV 360 & Webisodes: As part of NBC Universal's overall commitment to "TV 360" content, every SCI FI Channel show in development will have a unique broadband component, such as the recent live online psychic readings by Char Margolis, the popular videoblogs of Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick and the online voting for Who Wants to Be a Superhero?.

Exposure Film Festival: Exposure, SCI FI's unique online short film festival, offers filmmakers the chance to have their short film voted into a two-hour special that will air on SCI FI and possibly other NBC Universal channels.

Online Pilots: Potential series pilots will be posted online for viewer feedback. The fate of these online pilots will be determined in large part by their reception on SCI FI Pulse.

Sources: Sci Fi News Wire and PC Magazine

The film festival is also interesting in that Sci Fi has made hints that it will use Pulse to give the film makers another platform to make films for or to air their films. This is great, in the next few months over five new internet channels will be launched and this is in addition to all the other network plans already in motion. Soon TV's might not be so common instead portables and computers will be the norm.

Related:
NBC Affiliates Online
Battlestar: New Venture?