Dish Network (through Dishonline.com) Hulu and Fox.com are the first partners announced and will be able to have new Fox, starting August 15. In the case of Hulu, that means that users will have to subscribe to Hulu Plus to view new Fox shows online. It is the first time that user verification has been applied to content from any of the major networks and is reminiscent of the 28-day window that the film studious (of which Fox is one) have implemented on renting or streaming new film releases in order to boost DVD sales. Will ABC and NBC, the other two networks partnered with Hulu, follow suit? What will the impact be on the video streaming service going forward?

Fox could be harming Hulu if there is a large user revolt where customers start cancelling subscriptions or boycotting the service entirely. The question for Fox is: what is more valuable, the extra eyeballs that see Hulu's premium advertisements or the subscription revenues of Hulu Plus? Essentially, it is the same question that newspapers have been dealing with in terms of pay walls for the last 10 years.

It will be interesting to see if NBC Universal and Disney's ABC follow. If Fox, which has a say on the Hulu board where NBC does not (because of the Comcast's takeover), bullied its way into this arrangement, the other two networks cannot be happy about it. Competitors make strange bedfellows. It is an odd move for Fox to announce while speculation of who might buy Hulu is rampant across the Web as the content wall could have a detrimental affect on the overall value of the service.

In the end, it comes down to the nature of the Hulu consortium. It has three network lions, working in cohort by wary of each other's presence within a cage. Is this a step that Fox can take with NBC and ABC or will it be the trigger that sets them at each other's throats?

The Major League Baseball playoffs are going on right now and millions of people are unable to watch them due to the contract conflict. The official FCC Twitter account is posting live game updates along with calls on the companies to settle their dispute.

There's something about these old media rules and relationships that just seem absurd when new media makes so much more possible.

Bitbop features wide palette of popular television networks, but many shows available on other services like Hulu are missing at the moment. Hulu features dozens of shows from three of the "big four" cable networks, while Bitbop has just a few handfuls.

For the same price, users can subscribe to Hulu Plus and view the service's large catalogue of shows on their phones, iPads, computers and televisions. Bitbop so far is only available on Android and RIM devices, and with its limited catalog the $9.99 price tag might be too much for some users.

Jose Zavala, director of communications for FOX Mobile Group, told ReadWriteWeb that Bitbop has developed its very own video codec that helps with streaming to mobile devices at various connection speeds. The company intends to continue expanding beyond BlackBerry and Android phones, including forthcoming Android tablets and (the company hopes) Apple iOS devices.

Internet enabled TVs and new devices (Apple TV, Google TV, Boxee Box, etc) and services are quickly changing the way we enjoy television and movies across various platforms. Bitbop, however, which seems dedicated to solely providing mobile TV viewing, might be tying its hands by not attempting to expand beyond handheld devices. For now, the app could be a solid mobile TV solution for Android users, but a Hulu app for Android is expected by the end of the year.

Those familiar with GetGlue on the Web or on their phones will find the iPad app very familiar. As one would expect, the app lets you check-in to the service's 8 standard categories - music, movies, TV shows, books, games, wine, topics and celebrities. The added screen size of the iPad lets you more efficiently like, rate and comment on items without leaving each screen by utilizing pop-ups and overlays.

The startup hopes these overlays will encourage social interaction on the app as people enjoy things like movies and TV shows. The overlays, which will be familiar to users of the Twitter for iPad app, allow users to chat and discuss the media they are consuming with their friends and contacts in real-time - a practice that has many broadcast channels and movie studios excited.

Stickers from Glee, Dexter, TWiT and More

So excited, in fact, that many have refreshed their campaigns for special GetGlue stickers, which users can collect by watching and checking into shows and events. FOX has agreed to promote its wildly popular show Glee, long-running hit Bones, as well as a pair of new shows - Raising Hope and Lone Star - with special GetGlue Stickers.

HBO is running a unique campaign that rewards users for checking into each new episode of its anticipated series Boardwalk Empire. If users watch each episode on its debut night in succession, they will "level up" and earn a special sticker at the end of the season. Other shows and movies announcing campaigns include Showtime's Dexter, PBS' NOVA and Charlie Rose, Universal Pictures' upcoming releases Catfish and Devil, and Leo Laporte's TWiT podcast network.

According to GetGlue's Fraser Kelton, media networks have been impressed by the results their sticker campaigns have garnered, attracting them back again for expanded programs.

"Within 5 minutess of True Blood airing 2 weeks ago, 5,000 fans concurrently checked-in with an estimated reach of about 1 million people on Twitter," says Kelton. "The benefit of having trusted recommendations coming out from friends and reaching that number of people is a huge win for them."

Kelton adds that shows and movies that run sticker promotions on GetGlue see far better engagement from the platform compared to those that don't. While this is to be expected, it is evidence that the social check-in platform is a viable market for advertising campaigns from big brands, stations, and studios.

Fox Launches Mobile Hulu-esque Subscription Service

Fox Interactive Media, which ranks 9th on comScore's top 10 based on total videos served, announced today that it is taking a stab at mobile video subscription service with what it calls Bitbop. Is it an iPhone app? No. An Android app? No. A mobile website? No. It's an application for the BlackBerry.

BitBop, available on the BlackBerry Bold, Curve and Tour models, is a free application that allows users to watch many of the same TV shows and movies they know from Hulu directly on their phones. While the app is free to download, it comes with a subscription fee - $9.99 a month - to access content. Family Guy, The Office, 30 Rock, Glee, CSI, Friday Night Lights - all the major players are present and accounted for.

If you're asking yourself why the service is only available on the Blackberry - and why wouldn't you - it's because Fox has inked an exclusive deal with BlackBerry makers RIM (Research In Motion). It's a curious partnership, since the majority of BlackBerry owners use their devices mainly for work and enterprise functionality - not exactly the kind of people who are more like to watch online video on their mobile device, if you asked me.

Still, it will be interesting to see how it plays out and if Fox can boost their low video market share numbers. There is certainly a market for on-demand mobile video - the success of Netflix's iPad app and the anticipation of its iPhone app can speak to that thread. Whether that market is on BlackBerry devices is yet to be seen, but this partnership could bode well for both parties.

With today's Brightcove partnership, Boxee can point major networks towards a solution that allows them to increase control over their web video content and advertising. Brightcove offers customers the option to automatically serve video ads or they can choose to utilize a turnkey solution for customized ad placement. Meanwhile Boxee offers content owners a chance to move web video to television audiences. If Brightcove clients like Fox, Showtime Networks and A&E Entertainment welcome Boxee integration, other providers can't help but take notice. This is important given Boxee's battle for Hulu integration.

While Boxee users have always loved the Hulu app, Hulu's content partners requested removal from the Boxee community in early February. Boxee was forced to respond with a workaround solution. The new deal further legitimizes Boxee as a distributor of mainstream content. For a complete list of Brightcove customers and potential Boxee content providers, visit the Brightcove customers page.

In addition to the video feeds, there's also a live feed from FOX News Talk Radio. Another nice feature is the breaking news alerts. When the app is minimized, a small window will pop up from time to time when there's breaking news. The pop-up window will show the headline and the video. If you want to tune in, just click on it. If you ignore it, it will disappear in a moment or two. If that feature annoys you or you just need a break from distractions, you can easily turn it off from the Alert Settings in the app.

The last notable feature of the AIR app is the sharing feature. If you catch a video that you want to share with your friends, you can simply click the "Share" button to send them the video via email. Your friend receives a link to the video stream. The link delivers them to a page on the FOX News web site where they can watch the stream live.

If you want to check out this app yourself, you can download it from here. You will need to have Adobe AIR installed in order to install it.