MSN: Spend New Year's Online With Us

New Year's revelers will have one more way to watch the ball drop this New Year's Eve thanks to MSN. The online service has struck an exclusive deal with New York City to become the "official" online provider for the event.

Although it was announced Tuesday morning, MSN had already begun to advertise the countdown to 2005 through its video service during commercial breaks this past holiday weekend.

The webcast marks the first time in history that the ball drop will be broadcast over the Internet. Starting at 6pm EST on New Year's Eve, MSN will turn on three cameras, each promising a different angle of the festivities. In addition, MSN hired a local New York radio personality, "Romeo," to emcee the webcast.

"The Times Square 2005 MSN webcast demonstrates how interactive digital media can enable people to not only share but participate in the excitement," MSN Director Adam Sohn said in a statement. "It illustrates how digital media can provide coverage of live events beyond what a viewer can get on TV."

MSN has set up a special Web site that users can go to on New Year's Eve to view the webcast. However, users hoping to find a commercial-free New Year's broadcast online will be disappointed; MSN says that the webcast "will break periodically" to allow advertisements.