Or Die Networks Branches Into Video Games; PwnorDie.com to launch in fall, as we reported earlier, the site will be video-based and won’t let you actually play games. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Hollywood Make “Final Offer” to SAG; union most likely to wait a week and see if AFTRA ratifies its contract with the studios. (The Wall Street Journal)

IKEA to Launch Web Series; break out the Allen wrenches, as Illeanna Douglas stars in the new scripted comedy, Easy to Assemble. (TVWeek)

VOD Stats; VOD households have grown to 42.5 million in 2008 from 12.9 million in 2003; will reach 60 percent of households by 2012, karaoke most popular free VOD content. (eMarketer)

Time Warner Cable Launches “StartOver;” rolling out in NY, the service lets latecomers start a program over if they show up in the middle, but disables fast-forwarding through the ads. (TV Decoder)

Instablogs Launches Daily Video Show; Global Report will feature content from citizen journalists all over the world. (Instablogs)

Copyright Office Wants to Deny License to Net Companies; in a report, the agency says companies that want to stream local TV signals shouldn’t be granted the same license that cable companies get to carry the same signals. (Multichannel News)

Veoh last week discontinued Viral, its original video show, by laying off host Sunny Gault. Gault was the only member of the cast and crew who was a full-time employee, the company told NewTeeVee. The show’s final episode is embedded below:

Viral, which debuted in November 2006, looked at the world of online video from the inside, with Gault interviewing web video creators and tool makers. We’d run into her at many a conference and done a couple interviews on the show. But the show never actually went viral itself, said Veoh spokesperson Gaude Paez, only surging into the thousands of views when it was featured on the Veoh homepage, which until earlier this year auto-played a featured video whenever someone loaded it.

“Now it’s probably averaging maybe less than 100, to around 700 views — so not a whole lot of traction,” she said. “It wasn’t getting as much viewership without the promotion.”

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Fake reality shows are becoming almost as common as real reality shows online. But new comedy series Engaged, in which a self-obsessed couple plan the ceremony that will only make them forever miserable, raises the bar by focusing on, in Karina Longworth’s words, “the conflict between public and private.”

Meanwhile, PostSecret put out a plea for 1-800-SUICIDE, explaining in simple terms the government bureaucracy that puts this organization in jeopardy. And Sales Guy vs. Web Guy offers a first-person-shooter point-of-view on the epic struggle between IT and sales.

ON24 is expanding beyond traditional corporate webcasting with its new Virtual Show product. Think of Virtual Show almost like a Second Life for trade shows, only without the avatars and full 3-D world. Customers can create customizable digital convention floors where attendees can log in, visit virtual booths, watch live-streamed or on-demand online video demonstrations and network with other virtual attendees.

With rising fuel prices and a depressed economy, it’s not hard to see the cost benefit of hosting a trade show online. The average mid-to-large company shells out about $550,000 a year on trade show expenses. ON24 says hosting a virtual show will cost a company between $20,000 and $50,000 to produce.

ON24 isn’t alone in this space, Unisfair and GoExhibit both offer similar services, and some companies like IBM have used Second Life to host digital trade shows.

While the technology is there and the benefits are appealing, I’m a believer that trade shows are more than just a collection exhibitors and demonstrations. They are about connecting with other people in your industry face-to-face, shaking their hand — and getting them drunk. That’s something you just can’t do virtually.