EDITORIAL – New site expands online video content

Between classes, jobs and activities, it’s hard for students to catch all of our favorite… Between classes, jobs and activities, it’s hard for students to catch all of our favorite primetime TV shows when they air. Now, thanks to the help of advertising-supported Hulu.com, NBC and FOX’s latest effort at streaming online content for free, we can catch all of our favorite shows – and then some – for free and at our own convenience.

The site, which is only in beta form right now and will launch its final version in a few months, will offer programming from NBC and FOX as well as TV shows and films from Sony Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., according to the Associated Press.

To be fair, NBC and FOX didn’t originate the trend of online video streaming. User generated video phenomenon YouTube pioneered the concept in 2005, allowing users to post and share videos on their site. Users quickly began utilizing the site to post clips from popular network TV shows, creating tensions between the site and TV networks, which claimed the clips were unauthorized and therefore presented a copyright violation.

While networks started out – and continue, to an extent – fighting YouTube for allowing users to post episodes, they’ve now realized that it is much more profitable to buy into this inevitable trend.

Last year, ABC was the first network to begin streaming recent episodes of several of its most popular shows – with brief advertisements – on the network’s website. ABC’s move quickly caught on, serving as a model for similar streaming content on the websites of NBC, CBS, FOX and the CW. Now, Hulu will make watching episodes online even easier by combining the video content from several networks onto one easy-to-navigate site.

To be honest, it’s surprising that the video streaming trend didn’t catch on sooner. Streaming episodes online not only promotes general viewership and generates money from advertising revenue, but also keeps people from watching the show illegally. In a sense, the TV networks have done what the music industry still refuses to do: change their business model.

It just doesn’t make sense not to. Even when networks fight illegal file sharing services, people will continue to share music, TV shows and movies online for free. So, rather than fight individual cases in costly lawsuits, it makes much more sense to co-opt the trend – and make money in the process.

Hulu will also allow users to embed videos within their blogs, websites and personal profile pages. Again, this feature is a win-win for both the networks and users.

Users can personalize their websites and blogs with TV shows and movies they like, and, in return, networks can then utilize viewer information from the added traffic to determine not only how many people are watching episodes of different shows, but their demographics, interests and other viewed shows –