IP Democracy: NBC, Fox Push the Boundaries of Web-Delivered Video

Traditional television programmers are, by now, routinely pushing content onto the Internet, so much so that big announcements are commonplace. The latest example: NBC unveiled a string of “new media” opportunities at its upfront presentation yesterday. (The network unveiled 100 or so of these efforts, a list so long that the audience got “restive.”)

“No longer is content just for the television screen,” said Jeff Zucker, chief executive at the NBC Universal Television Group, part of the NBC Universal unit of General Electric. “We have put a ton of thought and a ton of effort into the digital world,” Mr. Zucker told a theater filled with marketers and advertising agency employees and executives. “We want to be your digital partner.”

Among the primarily web-based activities are: a new comedy channel (dotcomedy.com) that offers classic TV shows, a broadband preview channel (nbcfirstlook.com), thirty “webisodes” of the sitcom “The Office,” and an animated digital comic book based on the TV show “Heroes.”

NBC’s unveiling of these efforts comes on the heels of Fox’s announcement yesterday that it will start making downloads of hit show “24” available on MySpace for $1.99/download. (Both Fox and MySpace are owned by News Corp.) Moreover, users will be able to download two episodes at no charge due to commercial backing of big-ticket advertiser Burger King.

The goal, of course, is to monetize the vast, young user base of MySpace by leveraging existing News Corp. content. Some folks think that this is a bad move by Fox, one that could drive away the fickle youth who frequent MySpace. But, I don’t think so — “24” is a cool show and Fox is building social networking features into the download site. If anything, this move might make MySpace stickier.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on May 16, 2006 9:33 AM to IP Democracy