• by Wayne Friedman , September 5, 2007

NBC Universal is revamping its iVillage syndication show, now called "In the Loop with iVillage."

The new show, born out of "iVillage Live," which ran on NBC stations a year ago, still claims to be a live interactive daytime show focusing on issues for women. It kicks off again Sept. 17 on NBC-owned stations in the noon to 1 p.m. time slot.

The show will have three hosts: actress and comedian Kim Coles; season one "The Apprentice" winner Bill Rancic and TV personality Ereka Vetrini. The show will be broadcast live from WMAQ NBC's O&O station in Chicago.

In addition, NBC says it will continue to work with sponsors for "seamless branded integration opportunities." The ultimate goal for the network is "driving viewers online for additional details about the showcased products." To some critics, this approach resulted in some hard-sell hawking, as well as heavy-handed references to "click onto iVillage.com" for other information--all of which turned off viewers, resulting in low ratings. Now NBC Universal producers are said to be exercising some restraint.

NBC hopes the new show will reverse some alarming trends. Starting last December when "iVillage Live" began airing, the show seemingly hurt the longtime Web site. Instead of increasing business and interest, month-to-month traffic on the site declined.

Last year, NBC Universal bought the women's Internet site for $600 million because of what then-chairman Bob Wright said was its longtime stability--even during the fabled dot.com crash. Sources say the site pulls in about $120 million in ad revenue a year.