Los Angeles - Fearnet, the horror genre video-on-demand joint venture between Comcast, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate, has signed "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldgerg to star in and executive produce "Stream," a new sci-fi Webisode series on the site, Variety reports. The series, made up of six five-minute weekly installments, will launch online and via video-on-demand on Jan. 15.

Los Angeles - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has agreed to sponsor a 12-episode second season of the online series "The Guild," which stars and is written and produced by Felicia Day ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), according to The Hollywood Reporter. The episodes will first appear on Xbox Live, MSN and Zune digital media players for four weeks, after which time they will be offered for free on WatchTheGuild.com. Day will retain rights to the show, which garnered 9 million views in its first season, and was largely financed via PayPal donations.

Los Angeles - "Sanctuary," an online sci-fi series that was picked up for TV broadcast by NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) Sci Fi Channel, became the first such program to be picked up for a second season last week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The subscription-based, HD online series garnered 4 million viewers, and was later picked up by Sci Fi -- who paid its creators one-third what it normally pays for an original scripted series. The second season was picked up "on better financial terms and a string of international sales in such major territories as Canada, the U.K., Germany and France," THR reported.

Los Angeles - "Napoleon Dynamite" star Jon Heder will serve as a producer on and star in a new scripted online series from Electric Farm Entertainment, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Woke Up Dead," a sci-fi comedy series, will combine live-action and CGI elements and be released as 50 three-minute episodes online and for mobile devices.

New York - NBC plans to begin webcasting a series of nightly webisodes in the fall featuring Jimmy Fallon, the "Saturday Night Live" alum who is set to take Conan O'Brien's late night TV slot host next year when O'Brien replaces the retiring Jay Leno, The New York Times reported. SNL producer Lorne Michaels will produce the webisodes, which will be five or ten minutes long and debut nightly at 12:30 ET. "Conan needed time to find his show," Michaels told The Times. "I think this will help Jimmy to do that."

New York - Conde Nast-owned fashion magazine Vogue has partnered with IMG to produce a Web-based reality series about the fashion industry, The Wall Street Journal reported. Set to premiere next month, the ad-supported "Model Live" will follow the lives of three working models. In addition to airing on Vogue.tv, the series will also be syndicated on Hulu and Veoh. The Journal reported that the series cost $3 million to produce ($31,000 a minute), and cited insiders who said that clothing retailer Express paid over $1 million to be the top sponsor of the program.

New York - To promote its upcoming Batman sequel "Dark Knight," Warner Bros. has sponsored the production of a Web series based in a comic book store, Silicon Alley Insider reported. Warner reportedly ponied up $36,000 for the first five episodes of "Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist" in the hopes of drawing comic book devotee viewers, who will see "Dark Knight" trailers at the beginning and end of each installment.

Los Angeles - "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane has signed a deal with Google to release a new project exclusively on the Internet, which will be syndicated via Google's AdSense system to "thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlance's target audience," The New York Times reported. MacFarlane will share in ad revenue generated by "Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy," which will debut the first of 50 two-minute episodes in September.

Los Angeles - Former Disney head Michael Eisner's Vuguru digital content studio has debuted its newest Web series, "Foreign Body," which will comprise 50 episodes with a new installment offered daily. Silicon Alley Insider reports that "Foreign Body," which is a promotional prequel to an upcoming Robin Cook novel, cost $5,000 a minute, or $10,000 per episode to produce -- up dramatically from the $3,000 per 90 minutes the company spent on "Prom Queen."

New York - NBC (NYSE: GE) has announced plans to launch original webisodes in July for some of its most popular TV shows, including "Heroes," "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Chuck."

Madrid - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace has signed a deal with Intuition Films and graphic design firm Koncept to create a Spanish-language webisode series featuring Spain-based hip-hop artist Porta, Variety reports. The 10-webisode series, "Porta, en boca de tantos," will launch on MySpace next Tuesday, coinciding with the release of Porta's first album.

Austin, Texas - The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced on Monday that it has partnered with ON Networks, a distributor of original, HD shows across multiple digital platforms, to create the Greenlight Awards, "a competition aimed at discovering the next great, original and episodic digital series." Submissions will be reviewed from December through Feb. 15; the winner, who will be awarded $10,000 and a distribution deal through ON Networks, will be announced during the festival, which runs March 7-15.

London - Warner Music Group's Atlantic Records UK has partnered with social network Bebo to promote its artists on the site's "KateModern" Web series, a spin-off of the popular "Lonelygirl15" series. Similar to "The O.C.," Atlantic acts including the Days will both perform on the show and interact with cast members. Bebo will in turn promote the Warner artists' releases on its network.

Los Angeles - KushTV, a high-definition video network for online, mobile and digital cable platforms, on Thursday announced plans to launch an original broadband reality series featuring EMI/Virgin Records recording artists Korn. "The Loc Dog Show" will be comprised of 30 webisodes, updated twice weekly, and feature backstage footage from the Family Values World Tour.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix said on Tuesday that it has hired NBC Universal Digital Studios to produce three series of online webisodes that will showcase Netflix's content offerings. The first, "I Love This Movie!", will appear bi-weekly and introduce subscribers to a new classic film in a 2-3 minute segment.

Seattle - Microsoft has signed advertising deals with Volvo and Chivas Brothers, which will support two webisode series from TV production company Reveille ("The Office," "Ugly Betty"), the Associated Press reported. Financial and product placement details of the arrangements were not disclosed. Volvo will sponsor a series called "Driving School," while Chivas Regal will be involved with a travel and adventure series, "This is the Life," both of which are slated to premiere on MSN Video in the next six months.

New York - Mindshare Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it will produce an original Web series on motherhood, starring Leah Remini of "The King of Queens," that will incorporate storylines generated by moms. Debuting on May 11 on MSN, the five-episode "In the Motherhood" series will be directed by Peter Lauer. The webisodes will also be viewable on the websites of Sprint and Suave, the series' two sponsors, and promoted on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and in People magazine.

Los Angeles - The Writers Guild of America has announced that a judge has dismissed an unfair labor practice complaint filed against it by NBC, which claimed the guild had unlawfully pressured writer-producers at top NBC shows not to write "webisodes."