• Ad Age, Friday, September 15, 2006 11:48 AM

To catch this season's must-see TV, the tube seems to be optional. Every major network is trying out the Web as a marketing tool and an alternate distribution channel. "Ad supported or ad free, streamed on sibling Web sites or on partner portals, the networks are throwing every imaginable mix against the wall to see what sticks," Ad Age notes. For instance, NBC is debuting two new series--"Friday Night Lights" and "30 Rock"--on its NBCFirstLook.com before their broadcast debuts. Meanwhile, CBS will preview "Jericho" on the Yahoo portal--but, like NBC, is using several Web outlets. For a limited time, three shows are available free on Google Video--pilot episodes of "Smith" and "The Class," along with the season premiere of "The New Adventures of Old Christine." National advertisers are watching closely, knowing that this could become a standard strategy. "These deals are on the leading edge of what's to come," says John Cate, vp-national media director at Carat Fusion. "Any agency without a solid interactive strategy in the works is out of it."

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