In2TV is a shadow of its former self.

I've long thought In2TV was one of AOL's most promising projects. If you've never heard of the site, you're not alone, but it is (was?) a site you could visit to watch classic television programs such as "My Favorite Martian" and "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" Sounds like Hulu, right? Well, it was indeed like Hulu, except it had different content due to AOL's agreement with Warner Brothers. It was Hulu before Hulu was Hulu, and when it launched it was promoted by a television advertising campaign. That's actually how I found out about the site! Anyway, I've long thought In2TV was a nice complement to Hulu; while Hulu had fewer technical issues and was easier to nevigate, In2TV had content that Hulu didn't. Unfortunately, that just isn't true anymore.

Current visitors to In2TV will find a very plain list of viewable classic shows there. The problem is these are shows you can find on Hulu, Fancast, and other sites online. The unique stuff just isn't there anymore. AOL is still a force in the online video business, but it has increasingly become an aggregator, a site where people can go to find videos that can also be found elsewhere. The (essential) demise of In2TV may have been caused by the expiry of AOL's licensing agreements, but the redundant nature of the site seems to fit well with AOL's overall aggregation strategy. There's no particular reason to go through AOL for your video content, though, unless you're already used to using AOL. The old In2TV had unique content that could actually draw new people in...I don't think the new version has anything to draw people in with. Ultimately, In2TV seems like it will be remembered as a "What if?" site. It could have been where Hulu is today: near the top of the online video world. Why didn't it make it? Maybe it's the Internet's fault...not enough surfers used the darn site. The blogosphere didn't seem to cover the site like they should have; certainly Hulu got far more attention. In2TV was excellent in terms of content while it lasted, though; I really wish many of the old In2TV shows were still available somewhere online. Some of them aren't even available on DVD ("Head of the Class" is one example)!

This hasn't been a very good year for AOL. They've basically killed the three sites of theirs I happened to use the most: XDrive, In2TV, and P&G Classic Soaps. If we accept the giants as equal solely for purposes of this analogy, that would be like Google killing Google Search, Blogger, and Gmail. OUCH! Luckily, my favorite Google sites are more popular than my favorite AOL sites were so hopefully they'll stick around for a while. I may not have any sites left to use before long if the giants keep killing their sites like this, though.