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Critically acclaimed but chronically low-rated jock opera Friday Night Lights managed to sneak in a third season thanks to a unique deal between NBC Universal and DirecTV. But the network has built an interesting window into the release — the episodes will premiere on DirecTV's "The 101" channel in October, but not air in prime time until February. The episodes also won't be available on Hulu until NBC airs them next year, which makes no sense at all.

There's little chance that being posted to Hulu will cut into DirecTV signups and viewers, but more importantly, it means that online video consumers will be able to download the new episodes from file-sharing sites months before they're available from Hulu. The peacock would be smart to post them to Hulu as they air on the satellite net and earn a little ad revenue, or at least seed BitTorrent networks with ad-laden files. (Photo by AP/Paul Drinkwater)