Broadband Channels To Watch

 
By Rob August 10, 2006



There are a lot of broadband channels out there and I thought it might be worth it to quickly recap some of what is on offer.

AOL's IN2TV
One of the better ones out there is AOL’s IN2TV which is a broadband site that offers several channels very roughly organized by theme. IN2TV has a load of ad supported content. Mostly the content is old Warner Bros. TV and most of it is good but a lot is off TV for a reason. Some of the shows on are “La Femme Nikita,” “Alice,” “Kung Fu,” and “Babylon 5”. One of the new shows on there now is “Animaniacs,” this cartoon was ruined by its popularity making the early episodes on IN2TV worth watching. The huge drawback of IN2TV is that it is only available in the US. Oddly, all the commercials work just fine.

ABC's Broadband Channel
All the networks also have at least some broadband presence with some being better than others. ABC offers a pretty good site that is right now focusing on promoting the new fall line-up. After ending their trial period of ad supported full length episodes, you’re left with short recaps, highlight of current shows, and sometimes funny but mostly crude Jimmy Kimmel. I’ll miss the summer trial even if again it was limited to the US. ABC News has a much better selection of video than its entertainment side.

CBS innertube
Fox and NBC don’t have much to offer but CBS has a pretty good site. CBS innertube has three online originals, “Greek to Chic,” “Animate This,” and “Inturn.” It also features behind the scenes and interviews of its reality shows and a few hidden specials as well. Innertube is the best of the network sites right now. I was won over from the start with the Pearl Jam mini concert and the fact that it can be accessed outside the US.

Some of the best broadband sites come from cable.

Comedy Central’s Motherload
Comedy Central’s Motherload has a lot of online shows some of which are very funny. Most are short and perfect for a quick laugh.

Bravo.tv
Bravo Channel's site centers mainly around the widely popular “Project Runway” with interviews and blogs from the show. The real find is the link from Bravo that leads to BrilliantButCancelled, that offers ad supported streams of dead shows. The blogs on BrilliantButCancelled recently have been discussing the cancelled shows we love including “Firefly.”

SciFi Pulse
SciFi Pulse is a great little site that often offers full episodes of shows, usually for some promotional purpose but they’re free. I just wonder when SciFi is going to create an online show. It seems the perfect channel for it, but not yet.

Stacy Andell

Related:
AOL's Online TV Just Starting
In2TV Rocks With The Oldies, More
CBS Throws an Innertube
ABC Test Numbers Top 3 Million
Motherload Adds More Original Series
SciFi Original 'Eureka' Free Online