Someone's Gonna Pay for This!

Television networks have a harder time earning a profit than they used to, and it's not all the recession's fault. Audiences and advertisers are bailing. It looks like the Internet is the future of everything.

So the broadcast networks created Hulu as a place where they could experiment with how their shows could make a profit online. Meantime, Google, Apple and others have some good ideas about how to bring TV to your nearest computer or smartphone.

But the networks are finding that free online shows are bad for the bottom line. So the broadcast networks (CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox) are restricting online access to shows while putting pressure on cable and satellite providers to pay to run their shows. Yahoo News reports.