(cc) by Ernst Moeksis/flickr

Comedy writer Dean Cavanagh, is going back to his roots as a club promoter, writing a new made-for-online comedy series called Svengali. The premise, as hinted at by the pilot, currently viewable on YouTube, seems to be Welsh-failed-music-promoter moves to London, and sneaks into the big leagues through a (cheating) quirk of fate. They're promising cameos by music-industry insiders, and the pilot is watchable enough.

Though, guys, if you (as I presume you did) uploaded the pilot to YouTube yourself, please learn how to encode in 16:9, rather than 4:3 anamorphic, so we don't have to watch the whole series stretched. I'm sure your fellow YouTubers will be happy to help you out if you're stuck!

The creators are currently looking for funding - and a music label might be the obvious source - so they can turn this into a full series. As you can probably tell, I'm a big believer in the online-fiction-future, so here's hoping someone will have the guts to take a punt on this.

(cc) by totalAldo/flickrThe Independent reports that Ashley Highfield has announced his intention to make MSN the 'home of online television'.

Highfield has recently joined Microsoft UK, previously having been head of 'Future Media' at the BBC, and briefly being head of the failed commercial video venture, codenamed Kangaroo, which BBC Worldwide (the BBC's commercial arm), ITV and Channel 4 had intended to launch as a joint-venture to deliver video direct-to-consumer online after their free catch-up windows. He's widely credited with delivering very successful refreshed of the BBC's online properties, not just with the staggeringly successful iPlayer, but also with the refresh of bbc.co.uk with its focus on simplicity and user personalisation.