Strange as it may sound, a story titled TV's Plan to Catch You in Its Web on Wired News reports that Cartoon Network and PBS are both working on online worlds to support their television properties. Cartoon Network in particular is working on an enhanced television system that sounds like it will resemble EverQuest more than WebTV. How or when any of this will be implemented is still up in the air, but nonetheless, it certainly sounds interesting enough. Here's an excerpt:

The Cartoon Network has decided to create full-immersion worlds that work in conjunction with video games, in hopes of developing a core audience of users who would spend much of their time online.

"The harsh reality is that the networks and their Web divisions don't see each other as friends, because in reality they are competitors," said Sam Register, creative director of Cartoon Networks Online. "We are looking at developing and building a persistent gaming world."

Register said his network's online operations have been forced to immediately operate in the black, causing them to develop a revenue stream before unveiling new content. Currently, they are also developing an enhanced television channel that will broadcast Japanimation movies that allow users to interact with the world created by the filmmaker.