mtvU Greenlights Ten Digital Media Programs Submitted by College Students Pioneering the Future of Broadband Programming Winning ”Digital Incubator” Projects Set to Debut on mtvU, mtvU Uber and mtvU Wireless

mtvU, MTV’s 24-hour college network, and Cisco Systems®(NASDAQ:CSCO - News) today unveiled the first annual mtvU “Digital Incubator” development team — ten student groups funded with $250,000 in grant money and offered a national platform to pioneer the broadband content of tomorrow. The greenlit programs are new media “mash-ups” that combine elements of short-form programming, gaming, social networking, blogging, instant and text messaging, podcasting and mobile phone-based interactivity. The first “Digital Incubator” projects will premiere in May and be an integral part of mtvU’s on-air, online, on campus and wireless programming for the next six months.

The winning programs came in response to a call for submissions issued last year looking for online games, movie shorts, music videos or any kind of original content that would thrive on mtvU Uber — the first MTV Networks’ channel distributed in its entirety over broadband, streaming live 24/7 and on demand. The ten most original and innovative entries were selected to receive grants of up to $25,000 and a national spotlight on mtvU, mtvU Uber at mtvU.com, and mtvU’s mobile carrier partners. The initiative is part of an ongoing effort to offer college students unlimited opportunities to create and program every aspect of mtvU on their terms.

“The student groups on our first Digital Incubator development team are pushing the boundaries of digital media and we’re proud to hand over our network as a laboratory for their creative passion,” said Stephen Friedman, GM, mtvU. “These digital pioneers will indelibly shape our broadband and multi-platform programming, and we look forward to working with our partners at Cisco to launch the students’ works and careers.”

“Broadband is the ideal platform for the innovation and creativity of the first Digital Incubator development team,” said Dan Scheinman, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Cisco Systems. “The new forms of storytelling, gaming, and interactivity emerging from the convergence of broadband technologies and entertainment offer endless inspiration for this group of students and for others who will follow their lead. We look forward to working with mtvU and the Digital Incubator development team as they create unique digital content for broadband.”

Source: Cisco Systems, Inc.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 24th, 2006 at 8:30 pm and is filed under College Grant, Scholarship. Tags: College, Grant, Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.