Although Bravo isn't yet formally confirming the show's exact premiere date, it looks like the third season of the network's Project Runway hit reality series is tentatively scheduled to premiere Wednesday, July 12.

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While a Bravo spokesperson reached by Reality TV World on Tuesday would only confirm that Project Runway 3 will definitely air this summer, industry trade publication ads for Project Runway 2's upcoming DVD release -- scheduled for June 27 -- appear to have let the cat out of the bag. According to a Project Runway Season 2 DVD advertisement published in this week's issue of Video Business, a Daily Variety publication that covers the home entertainment industry and is targeted toward DVD retailers, Project Runway 2's DVD release will be "just in time for the TV premiere of Season 3, airing July 12 on Bravo."

Regardless of whether the July 12 date proves accurate, today's response to Reality TV World's inquiry about the premiere date cited in the Project Runway 2 DVD ad marks the first time that -- as Reality TV World speculated when Bravo first announced that it was renewing the Emmy-nominated series for a third season -- the network has confirmed that it is planning to air Project Runway 3 this summer.

As Reality TV World reported in early March, Project Runway 3's casting application -- also released on the same day as the renewal announcement -- had revealed that unlike the show's first two editions that used New York's Fall Fashion Week (an event that takes place in February) as the backdrop for their finales, the finale of Project Runway's third edition is tentatively scheduled to film at New York's Spring Fashion Week, a September event.

Based on the show's previous scheduling, the finale change was a strong hint that the network was planning to premiere the third edition of what has become far and away its biggest hit series sometime this summer. Although still unconfirmed by Bravo, the scheduling change would also seem to indicate that rather than continue to air on the once-a-year schedule used for its first two editions, Project Runway will also be moving the twice-a-year format typically adopted by most popular reality competition series.

Assuming Project Runway 3 premieres on July 12 and has a fourteen-week run similar to that of Project Runway 2, the edition would broadcast its finale in early October -- a timeframe that would still allow the show to take a two month break before broadcasting a fourth installment during the same winter timeframe in which Project Runway's first two editions aired. As previously noted, both USA Network and The Sci Fi Channel, two of Bravo's NBC Universal sister cable networks, already use similar summer/winter scheduling strategies for several of their own premier original series.

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