What do Sci-Fi Channel executives wake up screaming about at night?

Is it critical reviews of Farscape? Or a fall in advertising revenue? Losing the rushes on their new Dune film?

No. It is that one day some web-based start-up will drop out of hyperspace, unannounced, and do to their business model what Napster is currently doing to the music industry (hint: the word you're looking for starts with F and has an 'ed at the end of it).

Well here comes the SciFi Channel's worst nightmare.

Yes, with a flurry of glossy adverts and some hefty venture capital, Galaxy Online is launching an attempt to do broadband SF media over the web (that is to say, TV delivered over the internet).

Apparently Galaxy Online have acquired over 500 licensed fantasy and scifi titles including animated, television and feature film productions for Internet broadcast on Galaxy TV.

They describe themselves as a "web-based company poised to lead the convergence of the Internet and television with the combination of an online entertainment network, which utilizes emerging broadband technology and a "traditional" Internet super site."

Super, eh? Cor. I wonder if the SFcrowsnest qualifies as a super site too? Well, we think it rather spiffy, but then we're obviously biased.

They go on to say: "GalaxyOnline.com will provide entertainment, exploration, education, information, products and services on a one-to-one basis with online consumers, on demand."

This new company is best in Westlake Village, California. The site didn't have too much in it when we checked, but the concept has some legs, so it might be as well to check back some time to see if this company takes off.

If it does, they just might be Galactic one day.

Let's just hope their venture capital doesn't dry up, now the web bubble has been pronounced pricked by the likes of Wired, Red Herring, et al.

Galaxyonline.com