Well, i would love to see the dam webisodes anyway!!

While I have no doubt that the primary reason for Resistance's creation was promotion, there is also no doubt that the form of this marketing crossed over into unambiguously creative realms. This is not to say that advertising copywriters and art directors aren't creative, but I'm using the term in a more specific sense, of creating narrative fiction with characters, plot, conflict and no overt "buy this product" message.

If the principle for ongoing compensation for creating a story or a character or a production design holds true across all these established media - theatrical features, television, radio and so forth - then without a doubt the principle must also hold true for internet, mobile and other modern distribution channels. The nature of the output does not change the nature of the input.

NBC Universal refusing to acknowledge this self-evident truth (assuming I haven't inadvertently misrepresented their position is) is a blatant attempt to alter the remuneration paradigm.

By changing the rules on residual payments the studios are attempting to drive a wedge between what the writers (and others) get, and what they - the studios - keep, a gap that will get substantially wider as the net takes off as a distribution channel.

http://www.worldinprogress.org/wip/archives/2006/10/credits_and_res.html

NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT? Jesus...what a frakking godsdamn stupid comment by someone who has never watched this show!

James Huston..we have a problem. People like you should stay the frak out out of BSG posts with those stupid ass comments.

Calling the poster a troll, however amusingly, does not enlighten. But, on the otherhand, speaking unknowledgeably about a show does not impress, and invites sarcasm. The fact that the same person would actually blog about something theyve no knowledge of is what is astounding.

Allow me to enlighten you, James, by posing a pointed question or two. Having watched the season premier (as was implied), i suppose you just know, or have no questions about, what would bring a man to become a suicide bomber? Or, what brought one of the Chief's men to "betray his own kind"? They could jus tell you, i suppose, and let it be some immediate truth about the show- something that just popped up from thin air about 140days into the occupation, OR they could show you the lead up, say, through video snippets on their website.
It's a definite possibility, James. In fact, thats exactly what they did. And should you actually want to know the answers to those two questions, the webisodes await you.

I had to watch them through youtube, as I did not bother to find out a proxy to get access from international ...

'Since there's no character develepment in the show'

What are you smoking?

"since there's no character development on the show"

uhhh...have you actually WATCHED BSG? Oh, that's right...trolls aren't allowed to own TV's. Bugger.

"since there's no character development in the show."

Blink. Blink.

I hope you are joking. Or at worst a troll.

I didn't even know they had webisodes, not that I care since there's no character development in the show.

The article claims that "viewers streamed "Battlestar" Webisodes 5.5 million times last month," not that "nearly six million people streamed BSG episodes within two days of the premiere," as you stated. Divide the 5.5 million by the 10 webisodes, and you're down to 550,000 views each. Take into consideration that the measurement is of views, not users, and that some people are going to watch the videos more than once, that probably drops down to an average of 400,000 user/viewers for each episode. Interesting numbers, but less than 10% of what you implied. The season premiere may have had only 2.2 million people watching, but that's still more than five times the number of people watching the web shorts. That 2.2 million number also (I assume) only includes the first broadcast of the premiere, and doesn't take into account the rebroadcasts that would have added viewers to the total, the same way the webisode views represent a cumulative total.

I'm also not sure what you mean by, "this goes to show that the Internet is beginning to draw more and more television viewers into its gaping maw," as though it's a zero-sum game and no one who uses the internet can watch TV, or vice versa. If an episode of some series appears on the TV in your living room, does that make it television, but if it appears on your computer monitor, that makes it "web-based entertainment"? It isn't as though this story is an example of a grass-roots insurrection against network hegemony. The web episodes were written by the same people who write the main series, shot by the same crew, and performed by the same actors, to be posted on the website of the network owned by the corporate parent that pays them all.