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Free, Legal, Online TV and Movies in One Convenient Location.
- By Michael Jardine
- Published 12/20/2008
- Surfing the Web
- Unrated
Michael Jardine
I'm a person, with length, width, and depth. I'm not imaginary as far as I can tell; though my best friend insists that I am. I have an extremely dry sense of humor; which some have theorized would make a camel die of thirst. While we have not tested to see if this true; I have been barred from meetings for the local camel owners association just in case. I'm working on a series of books that satire fantasy novels. If it is a success, I'll be sure to write an unbiased review for it here.
View all articles by Michael JardineI'm sure we've all tried watching TV shows from YouTube before, the problem with this is that when YouTube discovers that when a TV show has been uploaded on their website, they immediately take it down. The reason why they do this is because of copyright infringement. Let's take a popular TV show like Family Guy. The writers wrote it, the voice actors and animators brought it to life, but FOX owns it. FOX paid for it, it's theirs, and they can do with it what they will. When people post these videos on websites like YouTube, YouTube is the one who makes money from advertising, and not FOX. And because of the way laws work, that's like stealing from FOX. It would be like if you wrote a book, and got it published with company X. Your neighbor read your book and liked it, and got it published with company Y. Should company Y be making money off of this book? Of course not. This is why people like Viacom make
But there is a website out there that's different from other video sites. Http://www.hulu.com/ is the site. Hulu was created by NBC Universal to offset sites like YouTube. Hulu acquires the rights to show TV and movies online. To acquire the rights, they have to pay companies like FOX to be able to show what they show. Because FOX is paid, there aren't any more legal ramifications to watching their episodes online. Of course, because of this, Hulu has to show advertisements in order to keep paying FOX. But they have found a way to make their advertisements not too annoying. As I am writing this article, I'm watching an episode of Firefly (I have a very strong work ethic). In the 43 minutes of the episode, there are 6 commercial breaks. The commercials appear in the same spots that they would have appeared if the show was still on the air, and plus an extra that appears at the very beginning of the episode. But, unlike TV commercials, instead of having a 2-3 minute commercial break, there is only one commercial during each break. And each commercial is 30 seconds at most, while some are only about 7 seconds long. It is extremely bearable.
The only complaint that I have about Hulu is its selection. While it has clips from a great number of shows, it only has a moderately large selection of full episodes from those shows. Acquiring the rights to show the TV shows online takes time, and it seems to be an uphill battle for them. Though, if the episode you are looking for is available on another legal site, it will provide the link for you. I highly recommend checking out Hulu first for your online TV and movies. At worst, you'll waste a minute typing in the show in their search bar. At best you'll watch your shows knowing that the TV company, and, by proxy, the writers, are getting their fair cut. And who knows? If hulu becomes more successful, they might be able to extend their selection even further.
The site again is: (Http://www.hulu.com/). Enjoy your stories!