May 7th 2014

Ora.TV Announces New Development Deal with Award-Winning Actor and Director William Shatner

New York, NY. (May 7, 2014) – Two time Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor and director, William Shatner will expand his digital presence with a new development deal with leading multi-platform network and production studio, Ora.TV. Beginning June 23rd, Shatner’s unique web series “Brown Bag Wine Tasting will air exclusively on Ora.TV with brand new episodes. In addition, Ora and Shatner are set to develop and produce new original content based on Shatner’s varied interests, creating a platform for his large and loyal following to see new programming from the star. Shatner joins the ranks of influential big personalities on Ora.TV including interviewing legend Larry King, Gov. Jesse Ventura, Haylie Duff and more. 

 

Brown Bag Wine Tasting follows Shatner’s adventures as he asks willing participants to blindly taste wine and describe it in terms of their occupations, with the goal of making the show fun, interactive and a social experience. The series was created out of Shatner’s love of wine and conversation, as well as wanting to have a fun wine tasting experience in an entertaining format. The original series is executive produced by Shatner and Scott Sternberg who will continue in his role as the series expands with Ora TV with the addition of Ora TV executive producers, Allison Glader and Jason Rovou.  

 

 ‘“Brown Bag Wine Tasting is close to my heart, and I am delighted to partner with Ora.TV on this show,” said William Shatner.  “I look forward to launching it in the near future and to developing new ideas with their talented team.”

 

“We are thrilled to have the legendary William Shatner join us at Ora.TV,” says Jon Housman, CEO. “’Brown Bag Wine Tasting’  is a great addition to our programming. It has a light heartedness and sense of humor that will resonate with our viewers, and of course Bill’s amazing chemistry with his guests and his charisma on screen.  Our team is incredibly excited to build out this series, and to develop new shows with this great talent.”

 

The deal to bring Shatner and Ora together was constructed directly by Shatner’s long-time manager Larry Thompson and Ora.TV’s CEO Jon Housman. 

 

With more than 50 years in the entertainment industry, Shatner’s work spans across multiple roles; He has been nominated and received numerous awards for acting, directing, producing and writing. Most recently, his one man show “Shatner’s World” will launch April 24th in movie theaters across the country. In 1966, Shatner originated the role of “Captain James T. Kirk” in the television series Star Trek.  The series spawned a feature film franchise where Shatner returned as Captain Kirk in seven of the Star Trek movies, one of which he directed.  He won Emmys and his first Golden Globe for his portrayal of eccentric lawyer “Denny Crane” on both The Practice and Boston Legal.  He received four more Emmy nominations as well as other Golden Globe and SAG Award nods. With nearly 2.5 million social followers, Shatner continues to be more present than ever. He can often be found live tweeting to his fans during popular television shows.

 

Shatner’s new home at Ora TV can be found at http://www.ora.tv/brownbagwinetasting.

 

About Ora TV

Ora TV is a television production studio and on-demand digital network with its home at www.ora.tv.   Ora (which means "now" in Italian) launched in July 2012 with "Larry King Now," available on Hulu and on Ora.tv, and is viewed millions of times per month online, and broadcast on TV around the world.  Ora.TV's other programming includes Politicking with Larry King (globally distributed both digitally and on linear TV), NewsBreaker, NewsBreaker en Espanol, Daily ReHash, DweebCast, and the recently launched Off The Grid with Jesse Ventura.  In April of 2013, Ora TV acquired Stick Figure Studios, an Emmy award-winning documentary and reality series production company based in New York. Stick Figure is the producer of Catching Hell, which premieres on The Weather Channel on June 1, and will air digitally on Ora.TV.  Ora is funded by América Móvil, the leading Latin American wireless service provider, with a majority interest held by noted global business leader Carlos Slim Helú.