Online Media Daily reports that TV Guide is launching a series of broadband video shorts on their webpage (TV Guide Launches Broadband Shorts). TV Guide actually seems to have a clue (except for the fact that you seem to need Internet Explorer to view the video). There are four different series that TV Guide is producing:

• Watch This! looks at new programs in the week ahead including special episodes, premieres, television events, and hidden picks from editors at TV Guide Spot just for the on-demand audience.
• Catch Up is a series of updates on television's leading water-cooler shows for viewers who've fallen behind a show's story threads.
• Big Movie Guide spotlights cable's current on-demand movies with celebrity interviews, movie clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and red carpet events.
• MVids brings new music performances to viewers, while guiding them to special appearances of the bands on Good Morning America and Today to Jay, David, and Conan.

What is really interesting, however, is that these short form video spots will not only be available on the website, but will also be sent to:

over 14 million Comcast and Time Warner digital subscribers, and to one million TiVo subscribers with stand-alone set-top boxes.

• The spots will be advertising supported with a 15-second advertisement at the beginning. Work with your advertisers. These spots should be entertaining themselves, hopefully in some sort of serial format so people will want to keep watching them to see where they go. Ultimately, perhaps, release the whole series of commercials as a full set.
• Speaking of the commercials, let people fast-forward through them. Otherwise, you'll just be driving many of them away.
• Let people share the darn things. So what if they don't go to TVGuide.com to get the video ... it'll still be TV Guide's brand and a lot more people will see them.
• If you're going to share them, why not license them through Creative Commons? Use whichever license you think appropriate, as long as people can share the files.
• Broadcatch/Podcast. Put the darn things up on an RSS feed. I don't want to go and visit TVGuide.com periodically, I want you to let me know when the videos are ready. I also don't want to wait for a download, so if you just send them to me when my RSS reader queries in the middle of the night ... excellent.