ReadWriteWeb

Blip.tv's CEO, Mike Hudack, chatted with us this afternoon about how online video and television are evolving and informing one another. Revenue models, show length and format, distribution, and consumption are all called into question as the web targets increasingly narrow and engaged niche audiences.

As startups such as Blip.tv continue to grow and partner with old-guard media companies for television distribution, what will happen to the major networks, whose current model creates a scarcity of opportunity for revenue while requiring a "least objectionable programming" approach to content? Will network TV survive? Watch and find out what Hudack thinks.

It was just a couple of days ago that CBS VP and Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Keane used fan-favorite "Jericho" as an example of why television networks should potentially begin to include web viewership in ratings numbers. As we wrote, Keane pointed out that "the online viewers of one episode [of 'Jericho'] boosted the ratings from 4.2 to 5.1 - nearly a whole percentage point." But the large web following wasn't enough to keep "Jericho" on the air -- today CBS axed the show.