By Joseph Menn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 29, 2007
The most ambitious attempt by television companies to retain their audiences on the Web begins today, and the early reviews are surprisingly good.

Hulu.com, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., will launch with many episodes of hit NBC and Fox shows and a small sampling of movies, all with one-quarter the commercial minutes of regular TV.

The fledgling company has learned from the mistakes of other TV networks, which haven't been willing to take their shows to popular online hangouts. Most have kept their free, ad-supported shows on their own websites and expected their brand names to attract viewers.

Hulu will syndicate its shows to four of the Web's most popular destinations, plus allow viewers to embed streaming clips or entire shows on their blogs. A "Heroes" fan-blog, for instance, could wax poetic about the hidden message in a certain scene, then let people watch that scene and respond with their thoughts.

Original article here