Do you ever start to wonder if the hundreds of billions of dollar spent on Internet and cell phone video technology only exists to make it easier to watch reruns of Welcome Back Kotter but this time on demand? atom Entertainment at least is doing something original.

They have begun funding programming through a new division, called AtomFilm Studios. Geared toward original content, the broadband play stands in sharp contrast to the repurposed TV programming pushed online in recent months.

Atom will fund at least five video projects in the first quarter, including a reality series based on Craigslist's Casual Encounters and a "stop-motion homage to old school videogames."

These and future video endeavors will be published to the AtomFilms site and its online and mobile entertainment partners. AtomFilms.com is supported by advertising, and revenue from distribution partnerships comes through a combination of ads and syndication fees.

The scale of the projects is much smaller than what's standard in television production, and so are the budgets.

"There will be things that are thousands of dollars, and things that are tens of thousands of dollars," said Megan O'Neill, VP of content acquisitions for Atom Entertainment. It depends on the pitch, if it's a series or just a one-off."

Earlier broadband initiatives from Atom have included exclusive relationships with JibJab Media.