Live: TV on the Internet

There are legal ways to do it. Some wait until a season of television is over and buy or rent the entire season on DVD. Some go to web sites like hulu.com or nbc.com to catch their favorite shows a few days after they air.

There are also less legal ways to do it. Others use web sites like surfthechannel.com or tv-links.com to watch pirated episodes. Others buy pirated DVDs.

Who watches TV shows when they actually air anymore? Either way, everyone watches TV online now.

It's a fact that the networks can't ignore any longer.

After years of using lawsuits as a way to solve the problem of audiences turning to the Internet to get their boob tube fix, networks have embraced the Internet as a way to reach out to one of their key demographics-college students.

Students are the holy grail of advertising, and television, for all of its entertaining content, is, above all else, an advertising platform.

Previously, if you wanted to watch a show online, you had to go the illegal route-one favored by many college students-or you would have to wait anywhere from two days to a week for a new episode on legal sites like Hulu.com and the various network sites.

On Moday at 8 p.m. EST, that changes with the premier of season two of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

At that time, FOX will air the episode regularly, over the air, on cables, and on satellite. What's different is that anyone logging onto fox.com from a .edu domain will be able to watch the show on the computer, while the episode airs on television.

On the following night, Tuesday, the series premiere of Fringe, a new show from J.J. Abrams, creator of television shows Lost and Alias as well as the film Cloverfield, will air at 8 p.m., also on FOX. Like the season premiere of Sarah Connor, Fringe will air simultaneously on fox.com, but only for viewers logging in from a .edu domain.

NBC will go one step further. The network will release premier episodes of Lipstick Jungle, Chuck, Life, Knight Rider and 30 Rock through the Universal-run television website hulu.com one week before they air on TV, free for anyone-college student or not-to watch.

Of course, FOX, NBC, and Hulu all run limited ads during each episode.

Steven Roberts ('11) says that his favorite show is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which he only watches online. "I use hulu.com," he said, but he hasn't used the network web sites recently. "At least not over the summer, but before there were some shows I was watching that you could only get on the network sites."

Roberts, a self-described fan of J.J. Abrams' Lost, also said that he regularly watches Heroes and 30 Rock. "I prefer shows with a big story arc," he said.

When he found out that NBC would be releasing the premiere of 30 Rock before it airs, he said, "That's incredible."

Roberts said if the season premiere of 30 Rock is online before it airs, he's likely to watch it online.

Upon finding out that Fringe, which he is looking forward to, would be available online at the same time as it airs on television, Roberts was skeptical. "If it's on TV, why don't I just watch it on TV? If it's at the same time, what's the difference?" he said.

It is unclear whether Fringe and Sarah Connor will be available online after their original airdates, or if they will only be availabe online during their respective premieres and then not available until another source posts the media content online.