• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 5, 2009

Envisioning a new celebrity-bolstered era for original Web programming, male-oriented entertainment site Heavy.com has tapped actor/comedian Seann William Scott to co-host its weekly sports roundup, "The Burly Sports Show."

Scott, of "American Pie" and "Roles Models" fame, was brought in on behalf of Sony Home Entertainment as a unique way to promote its upcoming film starring Scott, "Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story."

"This goes beyond a sponsorship," said Simon Assaad, CEO of Heavy.com. "What we have in mind here is a 'Saturday Night Live' model, where we bring in a featured celebrity every week to promote something they're working on, and create entertaining content at the same time."

Slated to debut Jan. 9, the show will be distributed to CBSSports.com, and Verizon V-Cast, along with Heavy Men's Network, and Heavy.com's audience of some 20 million monthly users.

According to Assaad, the celebrity boost represents a maturing of the online video medium and Heavy's relentless drive to innovate, rather than a defensive measure to stave off hard economic times.

"We're continuing to position Heavy as a leader in the online video space, and the fact that a movie studio is investing so much marketing energy into this medium shows how far we've come," said Assaad.

Amid layoffs, however, questions arose last year regarding the health of Heavy.com.

Last October, Heavy cut 14% of staff, or 12 people--which followed an earlier round of layoffs in June in which Heavy reduced its workforce from 105 to 80.

Said Assaad: "Our layoffs were just done earlier than everyone else's, and our team is now feeling comfortable about the future."

Launched last March, the Heavy Men's Network features Heavy.com and other properties, including action sports community BNQT.com, Flash gaming portal Newgrounds, Inc., Quincy Jones's QD3 and Vidshadow, Inc.

"Q1 is looking good for us, we're expect to be profitable by then, or by Q2," Assaad added. "Our bookings are all very solid."