History Beefing Up Original Broadband Content
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 4/29/2007 8:03:00 PM
The History Channel is expanding its online offerings with original content, including acquired documentaries produced by George Lucas, as well as developing six major specials for the network.
The network’s Web site will have five “digital brands,” including short-form original broadband series featuring rarely seen historical footage, and a military blog that will enable users to experience soldier’s stories directly from the front lines.
In addition, the network unveiled plans for several specials, including A Global Warning, Stalking Jihad and The Lost Book of Nostradamus.
For its Web site, History acquired the rights to a collection of 94 never-before-seen documentaries that are a companion to The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones TV movies. Created and executive-produced by Lucas, the documentaries will premiere on History.com late this year. The TV movies will air on History and History International.
“We want to grow History.com and broaden it within the core viewership of the linear network, as well as nurture it as a broad portal for history enthusiasts everywhere,” History executive vice president and general manager Nancy Dubuc said. “We need to be offering original content and original entertainment … History.com is a place for history enthusiasts to be entertained and a historical resource for information on all things history.”
The new online offerings include Band of Bloggers,which will collect raw “soldier-generated content” from military bloggers who use the Internet, digital cameras and cellular phones to deliver uncensored news from the battlefield. The destination will be anchored by daily video posts from dedicated bloggers, offering exclusive updates for History.com. In addition, Band of Bloggers will ask soldiers to post their own videos about their war experience.
History also acquired the Young Indiana Jones documentary collection, in which Lucas oversaw the creation of 94 historically accurate half-hour documentaries to complement the fictional TV movies. The network’s Web site will premiere those documentaries and use them to diversify its broadband library. History.com will develop a rich-media broadband site that will feature the documentaries, along with other relevant content. They will also air on History International and History Classroom.
Hero Ships is a short-form broadband series that brings to life fascinating moments in legendary ships’ histories. Veteran crew members will provide firsthand accounts of the dramatic episodes that have come to define the legend of a particular vessel, from the USS Missouri to the USS Omaha.
History Uncut will offer moments of history that are unedited and unfiltered, just as the cameramen recorded them. This series will put the spotlight on memorable events through time, such as the Wright Brothers' first flight attempt.
The Naked Underground is an exclusive broadband series that is an offshoot of Cities of the Underworld, the new weekly series that debuted on History April 23. The four- to five-minute short-form pieces explore urban myths linked to particular cities.
And The Greatest Stories Never Told is an original short-form series based on the Greatest Stories Never Told books by Rick Beyer. Every episode tells a fascinating, little-known story from history with a surprise twist.
On the linear network, History will examine two hot-button issues and two iconic historical figures in four major specials to air in the fourth quarter.
A Global Warning looks at the history of climate change; Stalking Jihad investigates the story of a CIA mission to track down Islamic terrorists in the Philippines; Lost Book of Nostradamus attempts to deconstruct a manuscript found in Italy’s National Library thought to contain prophecies from the seer; and Manhunt explores what many historians consider the first terrorist plot against the American government, John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
The message of History’s slate of specials is “the contemporary nature and how relevant history is to today,” according to Dubuc.
“Global Warning is a perfect example of subject matter that is one the most hotly debated and discussed issues of today, but the history of our climate change has been literally going on for billions of years,” she added. “We bring a very unique perspective to an incredibly contemporary subject. That is really the perfect intersection for us.”
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