It's a real market now ... Microsoft [re]joins the party

After sitting quietly on the sidelines during the recent Apple iTunes-broadcast network deal frey, Microsoft has reentered the Webshow game, after a premature gamble a decade ago. Microsoft Network (MSN) isn't just distributing repurposed TV episodes - Gates copying Jobs? - we're talking original web programming. Microsoft makes it official - online-only programming / broadband channels are a real market now.

MSN, under MSN Originals banner, tapped Ben Silverman and Be Jane Inc. to create 10 web pilots in the next year. Silverman's indie production company Reveille also has the option to take any of the webshows and repurpose for traditional TV. Not bad.

Four of the 10 webshows are greenlit:

1. Untitled short-form commuter airline comedy
2. Under the Influence - amateur musican paired with their musical god / goddess
3. Face-Off, not a Travolta-Cage battle, but a pop-culture, current affairs show
4. Chef to the Rescue (working title) - celeb chef tech support for those of us who have trouble with the mixes

Stay tuned for launch this fall, presumably with a noisy, multi-channel MSN ad campaign.