General Electric Co’s television network NBC has added 6% of online service provider Intertainer to its collection of internet properties. Between them, NBC and sister company GE Capital Group paid $3m in cash for a stake in the closely held Intertainer and a seat on its board. An option exercisable in the next eighteen months could give NBC a further 19% of the company. As a result of the sale, Intertainer will provide NBC-owned content when its online network goes live some time in the next quarter. The Santa Monica, California-based company was formed to deliver TV programming, movies, music and interactive shopping to personal computers via the internet. The service should debut in two or three months in the Philadelphia suburb of Willow Grove, with Comcast providing cable access. Intertainer’s content should run on any Java-enabled network device. The software hands out 24-hour licenses to music and films and can use Firefly’s agent technology to target ads based on the known demographics of users. Viewers can click on these ads to buy the products they recommend, thus eliminating the costly entertainment element of mass media altogether. NBC is quite the web entrepreneur these days. It already controls the Snap! index founded by CNet, is a partner in MSNBC, has invested in the VideoSeeker web property and operates NBC Interactive Neighborhood, a collection of local guides.
