SCI FI unveils broadband video channel

SCI FI Channel has embraced the Internet of the future. The cable network’s programming hit the Web this month on its new broadband video channel, SCI FI Pulse. The new site will feature complete episodes of select SCI FI original series, full-length uncut SCI FI original movies, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and interactive viewer programming.

The new site is the largest of several new online ventures from SCI FI and parent company NBC Universal.

Among its first offerings SCI FI Pulse now has a wide selection of deleted scenes and never before seen outtakes from Stargate SG-1 Seasons Seven and Eight.

Season Seven scenes include:

1. Emmett Bregman calling the President during “Heroes.”
2. Daniel getting advice during “Fallen.”
3. Teal’c & Daniel confering about the Unas in “Enemy Mine.”
4. Teal’c & O’Neill discussing sabotage in “Space Race.”
5. Carter telling Janet a medical mishap was not her fault in “Birthright.”
6. Moloc orders a manhunt in “Birthright.”
7. Bregman explaining his goals to Col. Rundell in “Heroes.”

Season Eight scenes include:

1. Carter and Colson discussing his betrayal in “Covenant.”
2. Col. Pendergast pep-talks his crew in “New Order, Part 2.”
3. O’Neill is accused of being a Goa’uld in “Zero Hour.”
4. O’Neill tells Carter Colson may have to be discredited in “Covenant.”
5. Carter offers to take Colson through the Gate in “Covenant.”
6. Discussion of Teal’c’s objections to Rya’c’s marriage in “Sacrifices.”
7. Hammond takes command of Prometheus in “Prometheus Unbound.”
8. Maybourne explains how he became king in “It’s Good To Be King.”
9. Teal’c and Carter welcome Daniel back from the Prometheus in “Full Alert.”
10. O’Neill wants Carter & Selmak to hurry up with the anti-replicator weapon in “Reckoning, Part 2.”
11. Teal’c & Bra’tac locate Baal in “Reckoning, Part 2.”

Though SciFi.com has previously made a few of these available (as smaller Real files), most clips are available here exclusively and for the first time anywhere. Fans have been asking for deleted scenes on the show’s DVD releases for years, making this stop at SCI FI Pulse a must for fans of SG-1.

Bonnie Hammer, President, USA Network and SCI FI Channel and Dave Howe, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SCI FI Channel plan to quickly expand the programming on the new broadband channel. The new channel will start with new webisodes that will include Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis plus the hit show Battlestar Galactica and Eureka. By 2007, Howe says there will be four more scripted drama series.

“SCI FI has always been dominant in the digital arena because forward-thinking is part of its DNA,” said Hammer. “Genre fans are early adopters who embraced our award-winning Web site and original Web content from day one, and we’re confident that we’ll expand that huge audience with our fantastic broadband programming.”

“SCI FI Pulse delivers on our commitment to exploit new digital opportunities,” added Howe. “Our broadband Channel is primed to be the category killer destination for genre content on the Web.”

From now on, every SCI FI Channel show in development will have a unique broadband component. Recently broadcast were the popular videoblogs of Battlestar Galactica‘s executive producer David Eick. In another broadcast, fans participated online by voting for contestants on Who Wants to Be A Superhero? Coming soon, users will be able to view online audition videos and choose one of the contestants for SCI FI’s newest reality series.

SCI FI Pulse is already working with the creative talents behind some of SCI FI’s top original series to produce dramatic webisode spin-offs. Development is currently underway on original webisodes of Battlestar Galactica.

New original planned programming includes several shows currently in production. Sci Fi Wire gives up a whole list of current production. In addition, the new Nicholas Cage-produced Dresden Files is about a detective with wizard-like powers. A one-hour thriller about the internet run amok called Snap is scheduled. And a mini-series called Motel is coming where a room key opens up worlds of supernatural events.

And don’t forget movies. Movie buffs can enjoy a film festival dubbed Exposure. Would-be filmmakers get a chance to have their short films voted on by online users and eventually turned into a two-hour special that will air on the network.

Online interactive programs include potential series pilots, which will be posted online for viewer feedback. The fate of these online pilots will be determined in large part by their reception on SCI FI Pulse.

NBC Universal’s Scifipedia also launched this month. Scifipedia is a user-generated online encyclopedia of science-fiction facts, definitions, and terminology. So far, there are 1,000 entries to which fans can add or change. Devoted fans of the network’s programs are encouraged to expand and elaborate upon episode reviews with minute details.

“It gives our viewers a place to vent their enthusiasm,” said Craig Engler, senior VP of SciFi.com and SCI FI magazine. “We have viewers who often know more about our shows than we do.”

To help viewers make their submissions, the site provides a style guide as an attempt to make things easy to read by following a consistent format. So the editors hope everyone will try to do things the same way. The guide covers everything from TV shows to UFOs.

SCI FI Tech is the new tech blog to show how the future meets the present in various devices currently available or being researched.

And SCI FI Channel’s online magazine SCI FI Weekly had a complete makeover, making it more user friendly.

Keep your finger on the “Pulse” and read more at SCI FI Wire.