ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT RETURNING -- ON THE INTERNET

Fox's Arrested Development, which attracted critical raves and an avid cult following -- but low ratings -- will get a second life on the Internet. In an unusual deal, Fox has signed an exclusive deal with Microsoft's MSN web portal that will make all 53 episodes of the series available for free. MSN says it will create a "community" around the videos, which will be streamed and include commercials that cannot be skipped. (The deal does not include rights to sell downloads of the episodes.) The Fox "exclusive" appears to conflict somewhat with a separate AD deal with Comcast's G4 cable network, which encourages viewers to download its programming (games in particular) to portable video devices. In yet a third deal, Fox granted HD-Net high-definition rights to the quirky series.

CORRECTION:
In Wednesday's Studio Briefing we indicated that Walter Cronkite made his famous comment about the Vietnam War being "unwinnable" in 1972. He made it in 1968.

27/07/2006