Starz: keeping with the times

A major pet peeve of mine is when networks make a big show of taking their material off of YouTube. I think being able to watch an SNL sketch on YouTube just garners interest in the product itself; I think it would bring in viewers to the full network show. So it always seemed to me that the execs who are pulling their material from the web must be out of touch, unable to understand the positive effects that forward motion in the industry can have on their network. 

So imagine my delight at the fact that Starz is making every effort to make its new show Party Down accessible. Not only did the network make their show available on YouTube (slightly edited, to maintain incentive to subscribe to Starz on your TV) but they also are in bed with the incredibly successful Netflix. Netflix is, in itself, a revolutionary brand that is, if nothing else, always surging ahead with the times, and a distribution deal between them and a small network like Starz shows brilliance on both sides. 

Making a product so readily available to the public not only gives me hope that maybe the Starz executives actually know how to deal with an ever-changing industry, it also says that they really care about their product, and they want people to be able to see it, through whatever means they can.