One of those tabloid shows we profess not to watch has become, of late, an infomercial for the website Hollywood.TV. What’s that? Just a wee Mr. Paparazzi competitor.
Founded by Sheerez Hasan, Hollywood.TV gets the shows that license its clips to carry a bug for the site, which also provides blogs with free embeddable YouTube clips. It’s unclear whether the entertainment programs pay to use this footage on air, but it’s likely no cash exchanges hands, or very little — it’d be uncommon for an Access Hollywood or Entertainment Tonight to be forced to advertise a clip’s source if they paid for the rights. (This is different from print or online, where photos, and many videos, must be credited.)
Also in the mix is CelebTV.com, which started as a forgettable player but now packages news segments from its “studio” where “on-air hosts” walk you through celeb events like Britney Spears’ latest car accident.
And CelebTV.com’s recent email to tabloid TV producers explains just how this arrangement works: Plug the hell out of CelebTV.com, and you get the video for free.
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