Get ready to keep one eye over your shoulder, because your favorite celebrity may be lurking. Sony Music and Verizon have entered a multiyear distribution agreement in which Sony will provide a slate of original programming to Verizon’s mobile streaming service, go90. One of the shows is a hidden-camera comedy from former Community and The Soup star Joel McHale.
Crashed will capture fans being surprised by celebrities, similar to MTV’s 2003-2015 hidden-camera show, Punk’d. While there is no word on if McHale will be hosting, the program will produced by his production company, Free Period Productions, which he started in late 2012. McHale is coming off a few highly publicized breakups after Community effectively ended and E! cancelled The Soup last year. He’s not exactly spending days on the unemployment line, as he’s since been guest starring on the new The X-Files series.
Sony Music brings more than just McHale to Verizon’s burgeoning mobile streaming service. Go90 will also be the home of Car Star, a show where regular people compete for the title of “car star” by singing in the car. Go90 is also planning to bring a multi-night concert series featuring Sony Music artists performing live, including live interviews. The latter is part of a larger push by Verizon to get more music content for go90. “With strong positioning in sports and original content, the music community is another key audience we are aggressively going after,” said Brian Angiolet, Verizon’s senior vice president of consumer products and marketing, in a press release.
The three months since Verizon released go90 in October has seen the telecommunications giant digging deep into the content game. In a month, the service racked up 8,000 TV episodes and clips from more than 35 exclusive series. The streaming service is also one of the few streaming providers of live NBA games on mobile devices via its multiyear partnership with the NBA since go90’s inception.
During a time when Netflix is promising over 600 hours of original programming this year, it’s going to be a content race for who can hold your attention the longest. Luckily, the customers are looking like they’ll be the ones winning.
