Life Network takes chance on reality-based travel site with possible U8TV ties

A Saskatchewan-based Internet producer is launching a new reality program in which the television show is secondary to the web site. The new travel show – MyGlobalAdventure.com – will feature an interactive web site and a 26-part half-hour television series set to air in Canada on the Life Network starting next January. Minds Eye Pictures and its CEO Kevin Dewalt are behind the new program. Dewalt, who’s also the executive producer and creator of the series, says some compromises were necessary in creating a partnership between a specialty TV channel and an upstart digital counterpart. But he anticipates the model will be successful enough to create second and third shows based on the model. MyGlobalAdventure.com will chronicle the world travels of the show’s host over eight months beginning this summer – females aged 21-35 are invited to apply online until April 2. The show will feature interactive components online allowing viewers to determine by vote where the host will travel, as well as watch the results via such technologies as satellite streaming. The final selection of a host will be webcast April 27. Dewalt recently told a Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) conference that Life, which is owned by Alliance Atlantis Comm-unications Inc, wanted the voting to flow through its own branded site. In the end, Minds Eye and Life agreed to give viewers access through both the Adventure site as well as through the network’s. "At the end of the day," Dewalt says without divulging details of the arrangement, "I don’t care if we have 15 different sites." Alliance Atlantis’ SVP of programming, Barbara Williams, says the two-portal approach makes sense in this project, though she wouldn’t predict whether further shows of this nature would have dual points of access. She notes that the company has other web/TV projects in mind, including one for the Tall Ship Chronicles. "It’s a solution that makes sense for us now, in the climate that we’re in. It’s hard to predict where those kinds of deals are going to go in the future, but in this particular case, the independent producer brought us an idea that we were keen about. We were very sold on the idea of launching on the web first. We knew that we could be very helpful in terms of driving the success of the MyGlobalAdventure website by linking it with ours. Really, our joint goal there…is to make the thing successful." The collaboration between Life and Minds Eye was facilitated by Williams, who is responsible for the network. While Minds Eye has hinted strongly that a partnership between it and Alliance’s other web venture, U8TV.com, will emerge, neither Dewalt nor Williams is confirming details. U8TV is also carried as a spin-off television series on Life. The company is revealing little of its advertising strategy. Dewalt says they are seeking global companies as advertisers, probably with three as the primary sponsors. No technology deals have been announced, and Dewalt says the company is still evaluating several off-the-shelf packages. As for other networks around the world, Dewalt will only say that the company will attend this year’s MIP show in Cannes in April, where it expects to announce global partnerships. The advertising and network deals will help mitigate what Dewalt recognizes is a substantial risk. The show will be produced in real-time, and the possibility exists that the chosen host might quit or that other unforeseen circumstances could arise. Dewalt says he considers that a selling point, and that unexpected plot twists can only heighten the drama. This isn’t the first website for Minds Eye, which has an interactive division well-known for its work on such properties as The Incredible Story Studio site designed for the television show of the same name on YTV. This venture, however, marks the first time the company will use web content as the driver for a TV program.

Life Network takes chance on reality-based travel site with possible U8TV ties

Broadcast | February 21, 2001

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