Streaming TV for Dorm Residents

Fox plans to shake up the norm a bit this TV season by premiering the new series Fringe and the season opener of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on air and online. The catch? The only viewers able to tune into the online broadcast will be those on college campuses.

Many networks have adopted online viewing systems, allowing those of us without a DVR or Tivo to catch full episodes of our favorite shows online a day or two after they originally air, but Fox's decision to put Fringe and Terminator online at the same time they are aired signals shifts in the digital viewing process.

Fox made the decision when they noticed that a good deal of their site traffic comes from .edu addresses. It's a pretty cool way to make sure that your target audience doesn't miss your new show just because they don't have a TV in their tiny shoebox of a dorm room.

The new strategy may also help minimize illegal downloads of these shows, since .edu users are also one of the largest culprits of online pirating. It will be interesting to see what other networks follow Fox's lead on this one and put forth that extra effort to catch the college crowd.