Comcast has launched a VOD channel on its San Francisco Bay Area networks that is devoted to environmentally conscious programming. Dubbed "Green Scene" and supported by advertising, the new channel is available through the MSO’s on-demand advertising service, "Searchlight" (note: the channel was developed by Comcast’s advertising division, Comcast Spotlight, in response to what it says is a "growing demand for green-focused programming"). In addition to tips from Benefit magazine on living a sustainable lifestyle, the new channel features a series of comic animated shorts, entitled "The Unsustainables," that depict city-dwellers trying, and sometimes failing, to be environmentally conscious. Each short centers on six main characters, including an erudite goat commentator and a latch-key teen, who, Comcast says, "stumble towards the future as they make decisions about air pollution, organic food, chemical products, and more." The series, which is sponsored by the Toyota Prius (a hybrid gas-electric vehicle), was produced by a company called SustainLane, and created by the latter’s creative executive producer, Nancy Juliber. "The characters we created for ‘The Unsustainables’ are fun," Juliber said in a prepared statement. "They aren’t preachy, nor do they offer up doomsday scenarios. As a result, we’re seeing overwhelmingly positive response to the series from both business partners and consumers, and plan to see it syndicated nationally very soon." The series also offers a dedicated Web site, and a blog purportedly containing posts from one or more of the series’ six characters. Comcast is running promos for "The Unsustainables" on a range of channels, including CNN, ESPN, Discovery Channel, History Channel, A&E, HGTV, CNN Headline News, TNT, Food Network, CNBC, Comedy Central, and Fox News.
Originally Published: April 16, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.26 Part 3
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