credit: rick

It used to be that you had to find the television schedule in your area, sit down and watch the shows when they came on. The next advancement in technology was the ability to record television and watch the shows when you wanted to watch them. Nowadays, technology has gone even further.

Today, it is extremely easy to watch TV on the web. With this technology, all you need is an internet connection and you will be able to watch television shows on your computer. You don’t need to sit down and watch the shows when they appear on television. You don’t even need to tape the show. Instead, you can surf through listing of available shows and watch the shows you want to watch. It’s truly that easy!

This on-demand type of technology has really becoming more and more popular as the television industry continues to slowly merge with the internet. Only a few years ago, it was unheard of for a television show to legally be available on the internet. That is no longer the case as most every show is available in some capacity while online.

The only difficult part of watching TV on the web is knowing which websites to go to. There are a lot of websites on the web that advertise the ability to watch television shows or even download television shows. However, it should be noted that a lot of those websites use illegal tactics to acquire and distribute the material. Going straight to the legal and legitimate websites is the best option, especially since they are especially easy to use and are updated in a timely manner.

Whether you are looking to find your favorite show or looking to find a new television option, here are some of the websites to look at the beginning of your search. These are the most official websites to use when watching TV on the web.

credit: ilya

Hulu.com
Although Hulu.com is relatively new, it has been a huge hit since it became a public website. In March of 2007, Hulu.com was founded. Hundreds of millions of dollars was pumped into the website and as of today, it is attracting an increasingly large crowd.

Hulu.com began as a partnership between NBC and News Corp. Today, Hulu.com has an impressive array of television shows and movies in their database. If you are looking for a TV show or a movie, Hulu.com should be the first place you look.

In addition to NBC, Hulu.com gets content from other sources such as FOX, Sony Pictures, MGM, Warner Bros. and many others. A great thing about Hulu.com is the timeliness of when content is posted to the website. If a show is aired for the first time, by the next morning you can often find it available at Hulu.com!

The television shows available at Hulu.com include many hit shows. From The Office to The Simpson, there’s a good chance you can find your favorite show on Hulu.com. Other hit television shows that are featured on Hulu.com are Family Guy, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, American Dad, House, Scrubs, My Name is Earl and Battlestar Galactica.

Hulu.com’s selection of movies is also very impressive. The list of streaming movies includes The Girl Next Door, Planet of the Apes, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and The Usual Suspects.

What is the catch? There really isn’t a catch with Hulu.com. The registration is optional. You do have to sit through an advertisement to watch the television show or movie, but the ads aren’t too intrusive. Not only is it free, you can share video clips with your friends and even embed video clips on your own website.

The only real drawback for Hulu.com at the moment is it is currently only available to those people who live in the United States. If you live outside of the United States, or even if you live in the United States but the Hulu.com can’t confirm it by checking your IP, you will not be allowed to watch television shows or videos at Hulu.com. There are rumors that Hulu.com is looking to lift this ban, however at the moment Hulu.com remains a United States only website.

credit: b_d_solis

Veoh.com
The best way to describe Veoh.com is to say it is YouTube.com on steroids and aimed more toward a television watching audience. Like YouTube.com users can upload content to Veoh.com and users can then view the content. That makes Veoh.com different from Hulu.com because at Hulu.com, users cannot upload their own material.

While Veoh.com currently doesn’t offer full-length movies, it does offer television shows. The television shows are usually the shows that are otherwise shown on NBC, FOX, CBS and Comedy Central. Examples of television shows that are available on Veoh.com are 24, 30 Rock, Bones, Prison Break, NCIS, The Tonight Show and Melrose place. There are also a lot of shows that only offer clips instead of full episodes.

Veoh.com is definitely one of the first places to look if you are searching for a television show on the web.

ABC.com, CBS.com, NBC.com, FOX.com

credit: Unwheeldychris

Although many people don’t think of it, a lot of shows are available on the official website of the television station that airs the show. For example, if the show you want to watch is a FOX show, there is a good chance that you can find that show on FOX.com.

While separate websites such as Hulu.com and Veoh.com are excellent ways to find a variety of shows, perhaps the easiest way to find a show is to go to the station’s website. While it sounds simple, a lot of people don’t think to look here!
As the technology to stream television shows becomes less expensive and more widespread, expect more and more stations to offer their content both on television and free online.

Fancast.com, MeeVee.com, Joost.com
If you are looking for a new show to watch, using one of Fancast.com, MeeVee.com or Joost.com makes a lot of sense. All three of these websites will help you find similar shows to shows you are already interested in. For example, if you like cartoon sitcoms with adult humor, these websites will help you find other shows that fit into this category.

While each of these three websites offers something different, their user friendliness is their biggest appeal. Check these websites out if the other websites aren’t offering you enough help or guidance.

tv.yahoo.com, myspace.com/primetime, television.aol.com

Since watching TV on the web has such huge potential to draw customers, it’s not surprising that major web companies such as Yahoo, MySpace and AOL are trying to tap into this market. While none of these three sites have a huge television selection, they are worth checking out if you can’t find the show you are looking for elsewhere. These three sites have a couple of hard to find shows that are available exclusively here.

As more people turn to the internet for their television needs, you can expect the number of available television shows and movies to grow by leaps and bounds in the next few years. While there is a good selection now, in the future you can expect everything to be available online – and likely free of charge!