Yahoo! has inked a deal with Tom Hanks' production company Playtone and Reliance Entertainment to webcast their multi-dimensional animated series Electric City. This would be Yahoo's first stint in original scripted content, after it launched an original comedy channel in December 2011. The announcement was made at CES, Las Vegas. Electric City will be an action, sci-fi adventure animated series featuring the voices of Tom Hanks, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chris Parnell and others. The series is based on relevant global issues and themes including energy consumption, freedom of information, crime and punishment and more. This does appear to be the first of Reliance Entertainments' digital efforts to see the light of day: How The Series Is Being Showcased Online - Non-linear navigation: users will be able to navigate the series non-linearly and learn more about the world of Electric City through a 3D interactive map which allows them to dig deeper into character back-stories, learn about the cast behind the characters and watch behind the scenes footage. - Social integration: feeds from Facebook and Twitter updates from users watching the series will be showcased. This is pretty much par-for-course in online streams now, at least in India. - Clips, but progressive: According to a report by The Wrap, the series will be streamed in 4-6 minute segments but can also be watched progressively. - Languages: The series will be available in multiple languages, including French and Spanish - Devices: the series will be available on tablets and connected TVs too. - Community: there…
