With online video charting new directions for the Internet, retro TV has come along for the ride. As broadband Internet access has enabled online video to have the look and flow of television on computers, consumers have thrilled to the homegrown content offered by thousands of independent content producers. Video aggregators, such as YouTube.com, LiveJournal.com and Guba.com, have proved that amateur artists could attract viewers to short videos and become competitive with traditional broadcasting and cable television offerings. But this trend has represented only part of the broadband breakthrough.

The numbers help describe the potential big media sees in broadband. Demographically, 35 million of the 110 million American homes are wired with some form of broadband. According to the Nielsen ratings organization, 72 percent of Americans who use the Internet at home access it through a broadband connection. According to the Pew Internet Life Study, nearly 50 million Americans now spend two to four hours a day, surfing the Web for streaming entertainment.

Recognizing that consumers could absorb and enjoy additional video content, both new and old media entities, sometimes working in tandem, have found sizable audiences with vintage television shows. By launching TurboNick in July 2005, Nickelodeon Networks helped nurture an early push of retro TV onto the Internet. Its late summer re-launch of TVLand.com as a broadband channel has beefed up the retro TV programming space considerably. Nonetheless, borrowing a page from the Nickelodeon Networks’ playbook, AOL and Time Warner Cable Distribution Division pooled their resources earlier this year to freely stream online access to roughly 3,000 hours of 1970s and 1980s television programming, giving it a head start on the re-launched TVLand.com.

-Early Impact-

This past August, the TV Land network introduced TVLand.com as a redesigned and enhanced broadband channel, expanding the limited offerings that had previously been featured at the website. This new broadband version of the TVLand.com website streams full-length episodes of both classic shows from the network’s library and TV Land originals, including full episodes and clips from the TV Land Awards, Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg and the new Mr. T reality series “I Pity The Fool”. The site houses the network�s popular, “Retromercials”, a look at classic TV commercials.

“TVLand.com has been serving classic TV fans on the Web for nearly ten years. Now we have created an online destination that not only fulfills what viewers love about TV Land, but also features the fun and off-beat content that doesn’t lend itself to a linear television schedule. This site will serve as an entertainment resource rather than just another screen on which to watch programming,” says Larry W. Jones, the president of TV Land and Nick at Nite.

Nickelodeon officials are hoping to repeat with the re-launched TVLand.com what’s already been accomplished by TurboNick, the company’s broadband channel that targets children with old and new shows. By any measure, TurboNick has shown that children will watch TV on the Internet. Because TurboNick has had the advantage of a well-orchestrated, cross-platform marketing strategy by Nickelodeon, its simulcast of Nickelodeon’s 19th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards brought traffic of more than 1.2 million unique visitors to its website.

Its programming consists of shows brought over from the TV channel as well as original content totaling up to 20 hours of new video material each week. In the two-week period between its �soft launch� and its official launch, TurboNick garnered 1.25 million streams. More recent numbers have been even more impressive. TurboNick generated 63.2 million streams in second quarter 2006, up 46 percent over first quarter 2006. It broke its record for the highest monthly streams with more than 28 million streams in June 2006, a 33 percent increase from May 2006.

New media honchos have kept a close eye on the AOL and Time Warner collaboration, given that it debuted months before Nickelodeon Networks re-launched TVLand.com as a full-fledged broadband channel. Entitled “In2TV”, the AOL-Time Warner broadband channel works like an on-demand television channel, delivering full-length television episodes to users� home computers and letting advertisers pay for streamed commercials as well as banner ads and promotions. Time Warner provides provides the content, which it owns, and AOL provides the bandwidth.

“This is an entirely new kind of broadband network,” says Kevin Conroy, executive VP of AOL Media Networks. “It has provided Web users with an entirely new way to both experience and interact with terrific television programming, as well as created a new platform for distribution of TV content.”

Almost immediately, In2TV found its footing. Launched this past March, AOL reported that in April (the only month which AOL made In2TV numbers available) In2TV had 7.5 million page views with 1.8 million unique viewers. Those were respectable numbers for a broadband startup, according to new media analysts.

So what�s on In2TV? A surf of the site reveals the following five major site categories with each category streaming five shows. The initial launch had five episodes per show available. Since May, five new episodes have been added per show. The categories and the shows are as follows:

LOL TV: Chico and the Man, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, Head of the Class, Perfect Strangers and Welcome Back Kotter.

Drama Rama TV: Eight is Enough, Falcon Crest, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Sisters and Spenser: For Hire.

What A Rush TV: Dark Justice, Kung Fu, La Femme Nikita, Brisco County, Jr. and The Fugitive (the newer version) can be found on this page.

Vintage TV: Alice, F Troop, Growing Pains, Maverick and The F.B.I.

Heroes & Horror TV: Babylon 5, Freddy’s Nightmares, Lois & Clark, V and Wonder Woman.

Toon Topia TV: Beetlejuice, Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid, New Adventures of Batman and Hysteria!

-Proving Viability-

In2TV may suffer from a lack of interactivity, critics say. Interactivity between the site user and the site is critical in achieving �stickiness�-the amount of time an individual will spend surfing a particular site-a measure crucial in attracting ad dollars. AOL offers only two interactive elements:

TV Karaoke encourages viewers to sing along with the theme songs of many of the shows featured on In2TV; and

Betcha Didn’t Know features clips showing surprising facts on favorite In2TV stars.

Tracey Scheppach, vice president and video innovation director at Starcom USA says that the interactive features have their �place in the marketing mix. It’s targeted, relevant, and it’s measurable.� In2TV’s programming stunts and interactive elements, might prove valuable, according to Scheppach.

“I could see myself doing that, with the door closed,” she notes, referring to TV Karaoke.

Despite its early strong numbers, the question hanging over In2TV is whether Gen Xer�s and Baby Boomers will continue to watch it. Unlike the broadband sites launched by MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, CNN and ESPN, AOL does not benefit from having a dedicated TV outlet on which it can promote itself. The services will be largely promoted with online media, including search ads.

Mitch Oscar, executive vice president of Carat Digital, pondered the question of In2TV’s long-term viability as a retro TV broadband channel. �When was the last time you felt like watching ‘Welcome Back, Kotter? Is broadband getting more television product? Yes. Is it getting the ‘A’ product? No. I don’t even know if it’s getting the ‘B’ product yet.�

Counters Will Richmond, the founder of Broadband Directions, a market intelligence and consulting firm focused on broadband-delivered video, “Every journey starts with a first few steps. You can’t expect to see ‘The West Wing’ on AOL [on] day one”.

“What I think you would see is some of the lesser-valued properties go over there so people can see what the opportunity is without burning themselves too badly in the process. But I think it sheds a light on where the market is clearly going,” Richmond contends.

–Skepticism and Hope–

Even though retro TV broadband channels, such as TVLand.com and In2TV, offer some interactivity and original programming, there exists still considerable skepticism about broadband’s long-term prospects. The knock on broadband is that it’s too risky a platform for new and old media entities to produce original programming and generate profits. Mark Cuban, the outspoken founder of the 24-hour High Definition TV network HDNet and owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, contends that television will remain the dominant platform for the distribution of popular content, especially as technology such as HD becomes more prevalent in consumer homes. And that’s despite the recent flood of cable and broadcast networks launching video-rich Web channels.

With thousands of Web sites competing for eyeballs, no content provider is going to spend the necessary dollars to create quality broadband-exclusive programming that relies on generating a significant financial return via advertising or sponsorships, he contends.

“Broadband is old news. It’ll be a little bit faster, a little bit prettier and there will be a few more features. But there’s never going to be a hugely successful broadband program,” Cuban told reporters at a recent HDNet’s Television Critics Association meeting.

What may work for retro TV in the immediate future is the �electronic water cooler effect� of blogs and chat rooms when it comes to building buzz

“Nontraditional channels are becoming increasingly important. The buzz about larger entities, like a ‘Desperate Housewives’ or a ‘Lost,’ it’s all happening in these viral environments,” says AOL�s Conroy.

Media buyers have expressed interest in making ad buys on the new retro TV networks, even though some question whether AOL will attract large enough online audiences to the shows. More attractive and original programming will be needed to make the retro TV broadband channel survive and grow beyond their present state, they say. “The cable networks became more popular and more exciting when they started creating original programming, or when they got the first window for off-net rights,” Carat Digital’s Oscar notes.