If You Like Television
...and you have a broadband connection (DSL, cable), check out www.hulu.com. It's the NBC/Universal and Fox venture that serves up full episodes of tv shows like Arrested Development, Simpsons, SNL, and one that I think has largely flown under the radar but could be in my top 10 shows of all time: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
See some low-brow silliness for yourself:
Watch your favorite stuff before this becomes a pay-per-view site. I have a feeling that they (along with ABC and other stations) are putting this stuff out there to get us accustomed to watching video via the web. When there are enough regular viewers - BLAM - it'll get expensive. Plus, this makes the shows more useless to file sharing networks.
Ok, one more clip:
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3 comments:
Hulu is ad-supported, so it's likely to stay free. Plus, it's easier for a network to sell ads when they have more data about your consumption behavior. When you're watching TV, they don't always know how long you watch, or if you rewind to certain parts more than others. Or if you interact with any ads. When it's online, they can track more of that information and use it to create better service, which allows them to charge a higher premium to companies that want to advertise to you, the viewer.
It's a lot like the way regular TV (cable aside) is free if you have a TV set. Now networks can sell ad space on the television broadcast and around the online broadcast, or even on the season one DVD of your favorite show. And they do. More chances to sell ad space mean more ways to make money without passing the cost on to the consumer. In the process, the networks learn more about what the viewers like. The idea is that you eventually have less crap programming to watch because you can zoom in to only the stuff you like, whether you're referred by a friend, a link, or an advertisement. And the networks ideally waste less expense on duds.
Chris writes about good tv that's out there on the inter-tubes, and I write about bad tv on CBS...
Sounds about right.
I love hula
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