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Online videos draw more eyes as content keeps expanding -- and making news
It's hard to recall life before YouTube, which was born April 23, 2005. That's four years in real time, but just a few blinks at Internet speed. The video-sharing site clicked open sweeping changes in pop culture, politics, news delivery and business. It spawned other services such as Hulu, Google Videos, Yahoo! Videos, filmmaker sites and more -- including a video-only channel launched last week by PBS, the public TV network.
These are the latest evolutionary changes in how we watch TV -- a shift that began in the late 1970s when video cassette recorders (VCRs to your teachers and parents) became common in homes. Cable services later introduced video-on-demand channels. Next, consumers bought DVD recorders and this decade began watching online videos. Broadcast and cable networks now support that migration by posting full episodes of shows on their own sites or at Hulu.com, owned by the parent company of CBS. Next up: iPhone applications.
YouTube is hustling to keep pace by vastly expanding its library of full-length movies and TV shows. A dozen new content partners include film studios and Universal Music Group. (Warner Brothers and Sony BMG came aboard earlier to share music videos.)
Front Page Talking Points is written by
Felix Grabowski and Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2013
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Many newspaper web sites have staff videos or links to videos on news topics. Find one of interest and discuss its value in supplementing written coverage.
Look at TV reports in the Entertainment section for several days and discuss how well they cover shows you like. 
Make a list of ways that newspaper websites and print editions could reflect the popularity of online videos by helping readers find selected clips. 
YouTube says: "A couple of guys with a dream pulled together and created a site that is brilliant in its simplicity -- all you want to do is watch clips. From there, it became this global phenomenon." -- Chris Dale, company spokesman