NBC to add video clips

As part of a continuing trend to provide more features to Netizens, NBC is launching VideoSeeker, a service that will allow people to download streaming and downloadable video content.

The service, which uses the InterVU network to manage and distribute the video and audio elements, will launch Wednesday with a two-week public beta trial. NBC said it will roll out the service fully in May.

The concept is that viewers will be able to download popular content such as monologues from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as well as celebrity interviews and myriad other clips.

It also will allow users to access music and other multimedia products, such as games and puzzles.

In general, sites featuring video and other multimedia features have been slow to take off because most Net users were limited by slow dial-up Net connections.

But now connections are getting faster through higher-speed modems and other technologies such as cable and high-speed access through copper wires, known as digital subscriber lines. Technology for delivering multimedia content also is evolving.

NBC is one of many sites starting to beef up its entertainment coverage. For instance, Streamland, a joint venture between Net music firm SonicNet and Levi Strauss, offers streaming music videos.

But unlike some sites that originally were trying to imitate television, entertainment-based sites increasingly are trying to combine the Web's flexibility and choice with television's entertaining content.

Like almost every site on the Web, NBC also is continually adding new features to its site, hoping to pull in Netizens and the advertising revenue they attract.