In what is believed to be an internet first, the University of Texas will launch an internet-based video magazine that will chronicle the 2005 Longhorns season, AdAge reports (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Host Communications, a company focusing on collegiate sports marketing, will market V-Mag and will sell video ads to marketers, but no rate card has been set, and to date no advertisers have signed on.

For $24.95, subscribers receive a "magazine" in rich-media format, with at least 50 minutes of TV-quality video per issue, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the Longhorns that subscribers can't find in traditional print and broadcast media outlets, such as a day-in-the-life of quarterback Vince Young. The mag will include links to sites where subscribers can purchase Texas paraphernalia.

The technology is not new, but according to Don Nicholas, editor and managing director of Mequoda Group, no one is using video in a magazine format in this way.