Inside Move: CBS hopes to clean up with 'mobisoaps'
Eye to bring sudsers to cell phones

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

To View Direct Link to Article Click HERE

So that's why they call it a "soap opera": CBS' newest sudser will be seen on screens smaller than an actual bar of soap.

The Eye is developing its first original entertainment content for cell phones, a sudser that will run five to seven original episodes a week, at three to five minutes a pop.

CBS' daytime department is handling the project, sealing a deal with writer-producer James Dutcher ("City Guys") and Leah Hecker to create the mobile soap (or "mobisoap").

The sudser's title and several concepts are still being kicked around; internally, the show is referred to as "Hey, It's Me" (a play, of course, on how people usually launch into cell phone conversations).

Story arcs could last as long as three months. Casting has not yet commenced, and it's not yet clear what services might carry the show.

The mobisoap reps CBS' latest attempt to move into the wireless communications space. Eye and sib UPN most recently signed on with Amp'd Mobile to provide entertainment to Amp'd users' broadband wireless phones, including clips from shows such as "CSI: NY," "Late Show With David Letterman" and "America's Next Top Model."

CBS also has a content deal with Verizon Wireless' Vcast to provide clips from CBS News and "Entertainment Tonight" produced specifically for cell phones, as well as clips from shows like "CSI" and "Letterman" and some behind-the-scenes footage.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />