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Two of the biggest online destinations for the nerd community are coming together.  Legendary Digital Networks is set to offer a new subscription service with The Nerdist and Geek & Sundry.  The new service, called Alpha, will offer interactive opportunities which will include live chatting, polling and other features to go along with featured videos.

The Nerdist began in 2010 as a podcast hosted by fan favorite Chris Hardwick, best known nowadays for hosting ‘Talking Dead’ and other chat shows on AMC.  The Nerdist evolved into a news website devoted to geek-skewing pop culture.  In April, it had 4.7 unique visitors.  Legendary Entertainment acquired The Nerdist in 2012.

Meanwhile, Felicia Day, known for ‘The Guild’ web series as well as roles on ‘Supernatural’ and for producing numerous web series, launched the Geek & Sundry  vlog on Youtube in 2012.  It currently has 1.4 million subscribers.  In April, the website boasted 290,000 unique views.  Geek & Sundry was acquired by Legendary in 2014.

Considering the similar ground covered by both sites, pairing them makes perfect sense for Legendary.

Hardwick described Alpha as “a safe place for fandom and the people who are passionate about it.”  Day declared that she was “thrilled to have Geek & Sundry unified with Nerdist under this innovative new platform that provides an environment for fans to celebrate the things they love in a way not seen before.”

Legendary Digital president Adam Rymer announced:

“Alpha is going to bring our community closer together through offering new types of immersive and interactive content and, when we realized that no existing services offered the technological capabilities needed, we decided to build it ourselves.  Our hope is to create a unique, shared community experience and keep pushing the envelope forward with respect to what can be created on digital platforms.”

Alpha will offer “live programming with celebrity guests, game shows and scripted fare.”  Subscribers will have access to VIP events, exclusive discounts and other perks.

It’s these perks that those involved hope will entice fans to pay for this service, versus other similar services, not to mention other streaming services many people already pay for like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Hardwick stated:

“I’m seeing a lot of companies putting genre-style content behind paywalls and I’m not sure that offering alone is entirely exciting or compelling for the audience, especially when this type of programming is freely available all over the internet.  While scripted and interactive video will be just one component of Alpha, we are setting out to make this more of a holistic membership experience that will feel like a community clubhouse.”

Legendary did not provide a specific launch date or price point.

Will you be signing up for Alpha?  Or will you just look for similar content from free sites?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter