My Dating Place, a local half-hour strip, will be tested on Fox-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate KUTP Phoenix starting late this year or early 2007. Would-be daters can apply on the station’s Website.
…Fox Television Stations Chairman Roger Ailes and CEO Jack Abernethy are looking to capitalize locally on the popularity of online dating sites like Match.com. Terenzio and Fox think combining the Web and TV platforms with local-user–generated content can create new revenue streams.
A typical episode will include three local singles who have applied online. The first candidate, showcased in a taped biographical profile, appears on the station’s Website (the show may help produce the pieces). The host then instructs interested viewers to submit profiles online, leaving it up to the candidate to choose.
A second part follows a couple on a date, while a third brings the “lucky” contestant back to describe the encounter.
The video profiles eliminate the common online-dating pitfall of misrepresentation, preventing short, fat, chain-smokers from describing themselves as tall and athletic. And this gives everybody a chance to get on TV.
Remember the Comcast Dating on Demand Channel? Early this year I wrote that Dating on Demand is a Dud. Maybe Fox can pick up where Comcast left off. There is certainly a large market for these sorts of dating shows, especially if they avoid the hot tub and trash talk and focus on the relationships. That said, ShipMates was entertaining back in the day.
Via BroadcastingCable.
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