Online Television

I've used sites like Hulu and Fancast quite a bit when I've wanted to spend a mindless evening de-stressing in front of numerous News Radio episodes. But now that, due to hubby's recent surgery and subsequent lifting restrictions - along with my health issues leading me to all but close my business, we are a zero-income family, we are having to give up some things. And our beloved DirecTv is one of them. Actually we have put the account on hold until better days come.

Enter internet TV. We have watched it since the beginning - only about 5 years ago actually - and have had high hopes for actual online entertainment. From Babelgum to Boxee, we've watched the baby steps of the industry, which I believe only became a viable alternative to our satellite television within the last 2 years.

There have been a gradual increase in options available for watching TV online, and my own level of interest in each has increased as well. Early on, sites with original programming such as documentaries were common. And sites started popping up with "world programming" that boasted thousands of stations - most of them weren't in English, and the quality of the programming was poor. But to this day there are lots of those kinds of sites; they don't interest me. Then came sites such as Babelgum in 2006, which I watched a LOT! Great original programming, different stuff than what was available on cable TV but just as good to me; I loved it! And cable networks started jumping on board, offering limited programs on demand; now many networks offer an extensive selection of their own programs. (The landscape continues to change with the advent of internet connectivity directly to - or through - our television, but that's another post for another day.)

But perhaps the most popular are sites that offer a selection of independent and network programs (and often movies) for viewing where we can choose from dozens or hundreds of programs from every genre and watch full episodes at our leisure. Finally getting to the point :) I offer a selective list of these sites which I consider to be the best for my own entertainment purposes. And it is these sites which will get my attention in the coming months when my favorite programming on DirecTv isn't available to me. (NOTE: Some of these sites offer links to programming elsewhere and don't host the programs themselves, but it's all the same to me - if I can click on a program to watch, it doesn't really matter much how I get it, as long as it starts playing on my screen!)

Enjoy!
Hulu
Fancast
TVDuck
Surf The Channel
SideReel
Veoh
SlashControl
AOL TV
Babelgum
Boxee (requires download but worth it!)

There are other sites that also have full-length television episodes; some I haven't listed because this isn't their main focus, or because of time limits, or for other reasons. But if you have a favorite site, I'd appreciate you letting me know!