• Variety, Thursday, June 12, 2008 11:45 AM

In a new instance of Web content migrating to mainstream TV, HBO has bought an estimated 8% to 10% stake in the comedy Web site FunnyorDie.com and has commissioned 10 half-hours of programming from it as part of the deal. The pact also has the two sides partnering on future projects, from live comedy tours to a possible Funny or Die-branded programming block on one of HBO's offshoot channels.

For now, the 2-year-old site must find a producer to help comic Will Ferrell and his Funny or Die partners shepherd the initial order of 10 half-hours." We want it to be in the same family of the comedy that we're doing on the site -- anything from an offbeat talk show to a traditional sitcom to a puppet show," Ferrell says "The spit-balling on these ideas is going to be the fun part of all this."

He should say fun and lucrative. Funny or Die completed a second round of financing late last year that valued the company at about $100 million.

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