TVSquad

Pretty much every television network offers a way to watch full streaming episodes of popular TV shows these days. But you need to jump through a series of hoops and a dozen websites to find each show you're looking for. While companies like MeeVee, and Veoh have created streamlined interfaces for finding your favorite programs online, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with TV Guide's new Online Video Guide.

TV Guide has been beta testing its new video guide for months, and the video directory goes live today. The front page features a list of popular shows and a column showing programs you may have missed last night. You can also search or browse for shows. If you were busy watching Prison Break and missed Chuck, TV Guide can help. Of course, so can NBC.com, but I really like the idea of having one place to go, not one for each network.

And unlike VeohTV, TV Guide's directory takes you directly to network websites to watch the video. In other words, you're exposed to every banner ad the network wants you to see and there's absolutely no reason for the networks to get upset and sue anyone.

[via lost remote]

No one has filed a lawsuit against VeohTV yet, but it could just be a matter of time. The service is something of a cross between YouTube and Joost, giving you the ability to surf for online videos without using a web browser.

Many of those videos don't come from Veoh, but from sources like NBC, CBS, and YouTube. That includes full length streaming episodes of shows like 24, Heroes, and 30 Rock. And Veoh's made the intriguing (and possibly ill-advised) decision not to ask for permission to distribute those videos.

Now that VeohTV beta's been out for a few days, I've had a chance to take it for a spin (thanks to our friends at NewTeeVee).

And while I was a bit skeptical at first that there would be much value in watching web video in a standalone, full screen application, there are a few things that VeohTV does very very right.

First off, it feature something I've been waiting for: a single interface where you can get watch full length streaming episodes of network television programs. The videos are coming straight from the network sites, with commercials intact, so hopefully VeohTV won't get in trouble for letting you watch the TV shows without actually visiting the network web site.

ABC is nowhere to be seen, but CBS, NBC, Fox, and the CW are all represented, (and PBS is underrepresented with just a little Nova content).

What Joost is doing for television over the internet, Veoh wants to do for internet video... over the internet. Let me rephrase that. You know how Joost takes internet video out of the web browser and puts it into a standalone full-screen application with easy to navigate controls? Yeah, that's what Veoh wants to do.

But while Joost's strategy has been to partner with companies like Paramount, CBS, and Viacom to provide content, VeohTV, which launches in beta this week, lets you see pretty much any video on the web in a standalone full screen application.