The Web continues to gain acceptance as a legitimate destination for watching television and video, with the American networks even beginning to climb on board to the possibilities.
Whether the content is original productions such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog from Buffy creator Joss Whedon, or repeats of old TV shows on services such as the BBC iPlayer or NBC’s Hulu, the popularity of the Web as a delivery method is forever growing.
Hulu Fall Première Line-Up
And now, NBC has confirmed its commitment to the cause of Web video by launching its Fall Première Lineup on Hulu which will see shows such as Heroes, House, and Prison Break available on Hulu.
But not only will the first episodes of these shows, along with Bones, The Office, and 30 Rock be available on Hulu, some shows will actually make their début online via the service a week before they première on cable TV.
Débuts Online
Hulu will début the first episodes of Knight Rider, Lipstick Jungle, Chuck, and Life on Hulu before they make their first appearance of the fall season anywhere on broadcast television.
Embracing The Web
This may just be an attempt to build publicity for the rest of Hulu’s Fall line-up, but it’s an intriguing turn of events that shows how television companies are embracing the Web like never before.
While the last few years have seen many media companies refusing to acknowledge the Web as a legitimate place to do business, and trying to hang on to their existing money-making monopolies, NBC has shown the way forward with Hulu.
Conclusions
It’s important to remember how young Hulu is, only being launched nine months ago. In that time, NBC has been able to not only make money but also foster enough partnerships to make the line-up this autumn quite impressive.
NBC is pushing the Web as its prime means of video distribution and should be applauded for it. Now if only more companies would follow suit we could have the start of something beautiful.
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