• by Wayne Friedman , August 31, 2006

Fox is full of surprises. A group of nine Fox-owned stations, MyNetworkTV affiliates, will schedule an unusual daytime interactive TV game show, "My Games Fever," with an unusual twist. The show is completely commercial-free.

Unlike most other syndicated or network daytime fare, the program, based on a UK show, will air live for two hours: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. The show comes from London-based Shine Ltd., founded by company CEO Elisabeth Murdoch, the daughter of Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., which owns Fox. The show will be distributed by Twentieth Television.

A Twentieth spokesman says the decision to go ad-free was made due to the nature of the live-game program. "It would break the flow of the show," he says. Twentieth says the show will make money from a combination of product placement, branded text integration and other non-traditional advertising and sponsorship.

For the future, Twentieth is determining how the show will be rolled out to other markets--either as a first-run syndicated show or as part of the new MyNetworkTV, which launches with prime-time programming Sept. 5.