As companies like Sling Media, TiVo, and Apple continue to release products and software upgrades that let you watch online or downloaded video on your TV, service providers like Comcast and Verizon are cutting out the middle man.

First, Comcast goes and partners with Facebook to bring some Facebook videos to an on-demand channel and an upcoming TV series. And now Verizon's gone and partnered with Revver to bring user generated videos to the phone company's television service.

If you've ever caught yourself scrolling through YouTube and thinking "This is just like America's Funniest Home Videos, but funnier because there's no voice-over commentary," you're not alone. Well, it looks like the pioneer making money off of user-generated video has finally embraced new technology.

Starting this summer, ABC will launch a new site for America's Funniest Home Videos, allowing visitors to upload their own movies. Users will be able to search through uploaded videos as well as content seen on the television program. This comes a couple of years too late if you ask me, but it's something. I'll be curious to see if ABC also chooses content for the program from user-uploaded video.

[via Lost Remote]

Comcast is expanding its foray into user-generated content, this time bringing Facebook along for the ride. Beginning in March, Facebook users will have a chance to submit homemade videos to Comcast's Ziddio web site. Like all Ziddio videos, some short films will be showcased on Comcast's On Demand television channel. Others will be selected for an upcoming television series, titled Facebook Diaries, which will be produced by R.J. Cutler, producer of American High and 30 Days.

I'm glad to see a major cable company getting involved in user-generated content. While I don't believe that sites like YouTube are "farm teams," with users just waiting to get snatched up by the "majors," there are plenty of compelling stories being told on the web by amateur filmmakers. It's nice to see that some of them will make their way to a wider audience.