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Hoping to make a successful jump into the increasingly popular world of online video, both Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. are in the process of beginning to offer cable shows online to subscribers.

The two companies have been in discussions with several of the largest cable-network providers, including Viacom and NBC Universal, in order to secure the rights to distribute popular shows from stations like MTV, USA and TNT online.

While the over-the-air broadcast networks have made most of their shows available free through various Web sites - such as Hulu and YouTube - cable networks have done little to make their shows easily accessible online.

Individuals looking to catch up on missed or old shows have had very limited legal choices, having to pay individually for episodes on iTunes or subscribing to Netflix and streaming from its online service.

Comcast is calling its Web-video service OnDemand Online and will be offering it only to subscribers of its cable-TV service.

They are counting on these extra offerings to discourage individuals from abandoning cable entirely and turning to illegal file-sharing or video streaming.

Comcast has insisted this move is not a response to the exploding popularity of Hulu, which has mainly been restricted to broadcast-TV shows and little premium-cable content.

"We're not seeing large numbers of people dropping their television service due to either financial hardship or the fact they can get video increasingly on the Internet," Comcast chief operating officer Stephen Burke said in a call with shareholders last week, according to a transcript of the call.

The prospect of soon being able to watch their favorite cable shows headache-free online has Penn students excited.

"I would be interested because I like the shows on Bravo and HBO," Wharton freshman Elizabeth Qian said.

Students living on campus have long been at the mercy of the Penn Video Network, which does not offer any channels in high definition and does not carry every cable network.

"At home, I watch Nip/Tuck on FX and I can't watch my Nip/Tuck here," said College junior Isaac Mensah, who lives in Rodin College House.

Even those living off campus have run into similar problems.

"It makes sense for the cable companies to do this, but the only thing I would pay for is HBO since I don't get that here," Entourage fan and College sophomore Griffin Gould added.

In the end, avid television watchers will have plenty of choices for getting their boob tube fix.

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