Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The WB Returns As TheWB.com

INSERT DESCRIPTION“Gilmore Girls,” starring and Lauren Graham as Lorela (left) and Alexis Bledel as Rory (right), ended its run on the CW last year, but the archived episodes will be available online on a new Warner Brothers Web site later this year. (Warner Bros.)
INSERT DESCRIPTIONThe beta site is online now at TheWB.com.

The WB brand, born as a broadcast network in 1995 and closed in 2006, will return as an online video Web site combining short original series with classic shows, the Warner Brothers Television Group announced Monday.

TheWB.com, and a complementary site for children called KidsWB.com, are part of a “digital destination” strategy by Warner Brothers, a subsidiary of Time Warner, to tailor Web sites to specific audiences.

In trying to compete for consumers’ time, Warner Brothers and other media companies have sought new outlets for content, sometimes bypassing the traditional network structure and creating broadband Internet channels.

“My 20-year-old daughter and her friends are watching ‘One Tree Hill’ and ‘Pushing Daisies,’ but not on television,” Bruce Rosenblum, the president of the Warner television group, said. “They’re watching on laptops and cellphones. Here’s the interesting part — to them, that is television.”

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