Internet video pioneer AtomFilms is launching what may come to be viewed as yet another pioneering effort - a studio dedicated to the production of online video - financing select projects and investing up front in the production of original content, writes the Associated Press. It already has six projects underway (including a Craigslist-inspired online dating reality series), and more than 30 others are planned for the studio's first year. "At some point, the internet, or broadband entertainment, will be the home base for anything related to video," AtomFilms founder and CEO Mika Salmi is quoted as saying.

The studio intends to fund shorter projects - about five minutes long. "We believe in snack-sized content across all our brands "We think this is what consumers want for broadband entertainment across various screens," Salmi said.

The AtomFilms Studio comes as much larger players, including Yahoo and Google, have entered the market, investing in and distributing video over the internet. TV networks also are also quickly entering the online game, and even expanding into handheld devices. And iTunes has sold more than 8 million videos, including TV content, in three months.