• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 31, 2006

America Online and Mark Burnett Productions on Monday announced plans to co-develop and produce an online reality treasure chase show. Dubbed "Gold Rush!," the program will track the progress of contestants as they cross the country searching for buried booty. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"This brings Mark's clearly successful approach to the Internet for the first time," said Kevin Conroy, executive vice President, AOL Media Networks. "Clues will be in various media--it will be television, print, radio, out of home--but all roads lead back to AOL.com."

Online "Gold Rush!" clues will also be placed through AOL's network, as well as other media like print and out-of-home. There are many ins and outs of the hunt that still need to be determined, said AOL's Conroy.

"The world is changing and the Internet is about to become the next broadcast network," said Mark Burnett himself in a prepared statement. "With the volume of people able to watch content on their computers between 9am to 5pm, it could very well become the new primetime."

The announcement follows word that AOL rival Yahoo is in talks with Burnett to develop a similar reality treasure hunt. Yahoo, Burnett, and LivePlanet--a production company founded in part by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck--are considering resurrecting ABC's scrapped reality TV series "The Runner" as an online series, a Yahoo spokeswoman confirmed told OnlineMediaDaily earlier this month. The venture has not yet been green-lighted, the spokeswoman said.

Created by LivePlanet and backed in 2000 by Yahoo Media Group head Lloyd Braun during his chairmanship at ABC, "The Runner" was conceived as a simulated manhunt across the United States. But costs to insure real-life would-be contestants chasing the marked fugitive around the county, and other logistical uncertainties, sidelined the initial venture. Now, LivePlanet, Yahoo, and Burnett are considering giving "The Runner" a second chance as an original online series that ties closely with Yahoo's consumer services, including e-mail, maps, and search.

In other AOL news, the Internet company has partnered with Disney's ABC News for a new Interactive news section at AOLNews.com. The section, dubbed "The People's State of the Union," features a live ABC News blogger, and allows readers to contribute text as well as video comments on their reaction to the President George Bush's coming State of the Union address.