Mass-media `fun' fails to catch on

LOS ANGELES Though millions of dollars have been spent ondevelopment, no one knows whether any of the existing Internetentertainment ideas - game shows, combat simulations, originalcontent or extensions of TV shows and films - will ever draw anaudience large enough to be successful.

Internet news programming and commerce are starting to take off,but drama, comedy and action-adventure, the types of mass-mediaentertainment programming that dominate in the real world, barelyexist in cyberspace. And two of the biggest spenders in developingsuch content, Microsoft and America Online, are cutting back.

Last month, the Microsoft Network canceled all of its originalprograms, with names like @WaterCooler, Getworking, Mauny's Kitchen,One Click Away and Forever Cool. The company will discontinue itsmovie-oriented Cinemania and Music Central Web sites at the end ofthe year.Microsoft, like other Internet companies, has decided to focuson news and information. When MSN was launched in 1996, the companytouted TV-type programming."We're moving more toward distribution deals and being more ofan aggregator than a producer of entertainment," Laura Jennings, vicepresident of MSN, told CNet, the technology news Web service. "We'veput more and more of our energy into sites and services that help youget things done online."Similarly, America Online recently slashed half the staff -about 50 people, including the creators - of Entertainment Asylum(www.asylum.com), a Hollywood celebrity showcase featuring liveinterviews and news. It was AOL's first foray into creating originalWeb content.Although that project continues, AOL also will concentrate on"aggregating and distributing the best brands of entertainment," saidAOL vice president Charlie Fink.AOL isn't ruling out future original entertainment content. ButRob Jennings, AOL's vice president of channel programming, sees thefuture of online entertainment as "gaming. That is where we havefound a dedicated, loyal, sizable audience. Some of the other thingsthat were experimented with haven't taken off yet. That doesn't meanwe're not interested, but we're a mass medium now, and we're lookingfor the kinds of activities that attract a large audience."Content developers within media giants such as Sony and NBC areforging ahead, using the Net to create a new outlet for fans of theirshows and movies.Talk in the industry suggests that a magic day when TVs and PCsintersect is just around the corner, with many looking to digital TV,set-top Internet boxes such as WebTV, and cable modems as thesalvation of interactive entertainment.Sony is mining an established audience with the Station(www.station.sony.com), which offers versions of the TV game shows"Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" Rob Tercek, Sony PicturesEntertainment vice president of online programming, said his companyis using those brands "as tentacles, and then underneath those brandswe can launch new properties and new brands. The name of the gameright now is gathering enough eyeballs to make a difference . . . toadvertisers. And to do that, we need to roll out these giantbattlewagons."Whatever form it takes, interactive entertainment willeventually exist, said analyst Mark Mooradian of New York-basedJupiter Communications. "It's just a matter of people getting itright."