online pioneer, Blair Witch's Dan Myrick, retreats to DVD

After spending significant time and energy on his episodic web-only show, The Strand - see my October 21 review - Blair Witch Project director Dan Myrick penned a deal with Warner Home Video for a $5M horror film with exclusive release set ... on DVD.

So, what happened? The mighty DVD dollar roared. According to the Claire Hoffman of the LA Times:

"Last year, consumers spent $22.8 billion buying and renting DVDs, up about 8% from the prior year, according to Digital Entertainment Group, a trade association. Of that, purchased DVDs accounted for 71% of the money spent — or $16.3 billion. By comparison, domestic ticket sales in movie theaters in 2005 totaled $8.99 billion."

Hoffman's article also details Myrick's colleagues in this straight-to-DVD Horror fest - former 24 Producer Tony Krantz and TV writer John Shiban.

While broadband channels and web programs are the future, DVDs are the present moneymaker. And everyone - well, almost everyone - needs to pay that mortgage.

MTV goes Broadband with Overdrive

MTV joins AOL's In2TV with an online, broadband channel called Overdrive. Featuring a video blog style pop culture show, MTVNews RAW, along with MTV fave The Osbournes, and music videos, MTV expects Overdrive to have significant viewership in the months and years ahead.