Streaming Video
Streaming online media is a very popular medium for both entertainment and news (see a little site known as Youtube). While Youtube is certainly the juggernaut of user generated content, there are plenty of other websites that provide streaming video content. For instance, www.launch.yahoo.com provides music videos and websites like www.mtv.com and www.vh1.com both have personalized media players. Even major networks have caught on in the last few years. NBC, ABC and FOX have implemented interfaces that allow viewers to watch the latest episodes of each networks respective programs. One principle feature of these media players however is how they advertise. Many times before you are allowed to watch a music video or the latest episode of a show, you are first subjected to a series of video advertisements. Or even more intrusively, during an episode the video stream will be interrupted and replaced with 30 seconds of advertisements (see the ABC.com episode player). If you want the convenience of watching television on your own terms, be prepared to face the advertising consequences.
