Culture

AOL to stream NBC shows

Two new programs produced by Warner Bros. Television will premiere on the Web site a week before their TV debut.

Reuters

Oct. 11, 2006 5:00 a.m. PT

Time Warner's AOL on Monday plans to announce that it will offer two new NBC programs on its Web site a week before their broadcast TV premiere.

The shows, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Twenty Good Years," are produced for NBC by Time Warner-owned Warner Bros. Television.

Viewers will be able to watch the premiere episodes of "Studio 60" on Monday on AOL.com. "Twenty Good Years" will be available on Oct. 4. The television premieres follow a week after the AOL debut.

AOL's move follows on the heels of other experiments by U.S. television networks and show producers to promote new shows and lure new categories of viewers who may shun traditional TV viewing.

Earlier in September, CBS Corp. teamed up with digital video recorder pioneer TiVo in a similar experiment. TiVo subscribers will be able to watch the pilot episode of CBS's "The Class" a week before the TV broadcast.