Warner begins online on-demand service

TheWB.com Beta launches in the US
TheWB.com Beta launches in the US

Warner Bros has unveiled an online site that delivers an archive of on-demand shows from its television back catalogue.

Launched as a private Beta, TheWB.com allows users to watch shows such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Friends and Smallville as and when they want. That is if you’re based in the US.

This comes after Warner Bros started adding on-demand movie content to various download services such as: Amazon Unibox, iTunes, Cinemanow, Vudu, Xbox 360 and on a variety of cable channels.

The films currently available on demand include: Michael Clayton, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix and The Assassination Of Jesse James.

Web-only

As well as offering famous shows for perusal, the site will also host web-only content. This will include a new web show created by Charlie’s Angels director McG, the online mystery drama Sorority Forever.

Aiming at the 18-34 audience, the site also offers a variety of new features such as an editing app, WBlender, that allows you to create your own TV mashups. There’s no word however if you can upload your ‘viral’ work to YouTube and the like as that, in theory, would still be piracy.

Speaking to the Guardian, a spokesperson for Warner Bros UK said that the company has no plans to launch the site in the UK, leaving another on-demand shaped hole for Brits everywhere.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.