Entertainment

THIS JUST IN … NEWS IN THE NUDE

THE Internet’s wildly popular, nude news show, “Naked News,” is jumping to television.

The new weekly pay-per-view show will feature an all-nude female lineup of anchors who “uncover” stories with an international flavor from the lighter side of the news.

The stars of “Naked News TV” are not strippers, says “Naked News TV” executive producer, Kathy Pinckert. “They’re all real women and what they share is a need to do something interesting and different.

“Neck-up qualifications come first,” she says.

“Everything going on in the world is real serious a lot of the time now and this is just to bring a little bit of levity to the news arena,” says Pinckert.

The 55-minute show debuts on Dec. 7 (10 p.m.) on In-Demand cable and new weekly episodes bow Friday nights.

It costs about $3.95 per hour.

Each show opens with lead anchor Devon Calwell who gradually disrobes as she reads the news. Calwell then throws the broadcast to a variety of all-nude correspondents who report on sports, lifestyle news and celebrity gossip.

“We’re basically mixing it up a little bit between serious straight-forward news and the lighter side of the news,” says Pinckert.

“Naked News TV” is a spin-off of nakednews.com, a two-year-old Web site that broadcasts a daily nude news show over the Internet and has developed a huge following.

Pinckert says the Web site averages about six million unique visitors each month. It was the site’s huge audience that paved the way for the TV show, she said.

And show officials bristle at the suggestion that “Naked News TV” is simply more late-night, pay-per-view pornography. “This is just a job that is performed nude,” Pinckert says. “It is not adult entertainment.

“To do your job nude, with no props, no desk or a suit kind of makes it much more empowering. Gestures, voice and facial expressions take on a whole new meaning,” Pinckert says.

“Naked News TV,” is not the first nude newscast on TV.

A Russian news-satire show called “Naked Truth” became must-see TV in Moscow last year. On that show topless anchors and correspondents offered reports on news and the weather.