Two seemingly unrelated announcements last week have got me thinking about whether the future of “full screen” Internet TV applications, such as Joost or Babelgum, reside on a PC or, instead, some sort of set-top-box which connects to a TV.

Microsoft launched a Beta version of its new MSN Video-based “Internet TV” service, compatible with “Extenders for Media Center” devices from Cisco, D-Link, and HP; and Jaman published a software hack — albeit, unsupported — to enable content from its movie download store to work with the AppleTV.

Other online video services to have already aligned with hardware manufacturers include BitTorrent, which released an SDK for set-top boxes, Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices, and media extenders; Google-owned YouTube with their strong partnership with Apple; and DivX who are busy shopping around their “Connected” media extender hardware reference design to Asian consumer electronics companies.

What all of the above companies are betting, to varying degrees, is that for all the social and interactive advantages of online video, certain kinds of content, particularly long form programing, still wants to be viewed from the couch on a large widescreen TV.

Back in July, Jaman, which sells high definition movie downloads, announced that it was on the verge of releasing the first commercial plug-in — or is that hack? — for the AppleTV. With the software installed, movies downloaded via Jaman’s desktop software, running on a Mac or PC, would also show up in a new menu option on a user’s AppleTV. If released, this would represent the first time a commercial entity had successfully plugged their service into Apple’s set-top-box, to create a level playing field with the company’s own content offerings.

That day has finally arrived, albeit with a pretty heavy caveat: While Jaman’s website points to where users can download the necessary software, along with instructions, the AppleTV plug-in isn’t officially supported by the company. That’s because Jaman’s solution still requires users to “hack” the device, since Apple is yet to sanction the AppleTV to run third-party applications.

At the opening day of the DigitalLife trade show held in New York, Microsoft made a number of Windows Media Center-related announcements, including new media extenders from its hardware partners Cisco, D-Link, Niveus and HP, as well as the Beta launch of a new Internet TV service called — wait for it — “Internet TV”.

Late yesterday, Echostar, the third largest pay-TV provider in the United States, announced that it is to purchase Sling Media in a cash and options deal which values the company at $380 million.

Sling Media is best know for its SlingBox, a place-shifting device which connects to a home’s TV signal (cable box, digital tuner or PVR) and then ’slings’ that signal over a broadband connection to either a PC or cell phone, or in theory, any Internet connected device that can run the SlingPlayer software. More recently, however, the company formed its Sling Entertainment Group to develop a variety of software-based services including the controversial Clip+Sling. Last week, it was reported that Sling had partnered with DirectTV to provide the software behind its newly launched out-of-market NFL Internet streaming offering.

Video platform Blip.tv announced today that the company will now host and serve past and future episodes of the long-running video podcast Rocketboom, as well as sell advertising on the show.

Talking up the partnership on the company’s official blog, CEO Mike Hudack, not only claimed that watching an early episode of Rocketboom was, in part, the inspiration behind starting Blip.tv — but also that, following specific demands from the show’s co-creator and producer, Andrew Baron, the company has pioneered Flash-like overlay ads that run in QuickTime. “We believe it’s the first of its kind”, writes Hudack. The result is that versions of the show that are created for desktop video players — including, and most importantly, iTunes, as well as the excellent Miro — will be able to feature the same interactive overlay ads found on their Flash equivalents. The first of the new overlays is for Comedy Central’s Sarah Silverman show.

More Internet TV action this week from one of the major networks. The LA Times reports that, as of today, Fox Broadcasting is giving away free downloads of season premiere episodes of seven its shows on the U.S. version of the iTunes Store.

Only recently, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said that he viewed iTunes “as much as a promotional vehicle… as a financial vehicle”. It seems that Fox may have a similar opinion.

From the LA Times:

The Fox-Apple deal is designed to expose iPod users to the upcoming season of new and returning prime-time shows. Executives with the News Corp.-owned network hope that free downloads of such shows as “Prison Break,” “Bones,” “American Dad” and “K-Ville” will entice viewers to watch later installments on TV or pay to download them from the iTunes store.

I recently wrote that such moves by the major networks provided evidence of a new strategy in which syndication and getting content onto as many different online platforms as possible was replacing central distribution.

However, Tim Hanlon, a consultant quoted in the Times piece, puts it even better:

“What we are seeing is a rather messy and inelegant fumbling into the future of video distribution.”

Messy, inelegant and fumbling. Perfect.

Ed Burns, the actor, writer, director, and now comic book author, considers his best film to be a small, talky, comedy/drama that has “absolutely no audience” theatrically but just might find its home elsewhere — on iTunes.

“We got a couple of half-assed theatrical offers,” said Burns, who was interviewed by Premium Hollywood about the film “Purple Violets.” With his last few movies Burns took the theatrical route and was disappointed that they were shown in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco but not elsewhere.

With “Purple Violets”, Burns is showing the movie at film festivals but releasing it “theatrically” through iTunes.

“So, we’re gambling,” Burns said, who is best known as an actor in “Saving Private Ryan”, “Confidence”, and “Life or Something Like It” and as a writer-director in “The Brothers McMullen.”

It’s fascinating watching the major U.S. television networks fine-tune their Internet TV strategies, in an ongoing attempt to find their place in the digital world. The latest announcement comes from Disney-owned ABC, who, as of today, will be syndicating a number of their prime time shows on Time Warner’s AOL Video property (WSJ).

ABC shows, such as Lost and Ugly Betty, will be made available for streaming — fee of charge — the day after broadcast, with up to four episodes from a series on offer at any one time. Ad-revenue will be split between ABC and Time Warner, in addition to a share going to ABC’s local television affiliates, with the amount determined through the use of geo-targeted advertising.

In keeping with traditional territorial distribution, AOL’s ABC offering will be available to U.S. Internet users only.

We’re clearing moving into a phase where the television networks are beginning to embrace a strategy in which they’re abandoning central online distribution and embracing syndication, and as a result are willing to experiment with getting their content onto as many platforms as possible, both ad-supported (Joost, AOL etc) and paid-for offerings (e.g. iTunes, UnBox, XBox Live).

Also see: 11 video download stores and Internet streaming: five U.S. television networks compared

NBC have announced that they will be launching a new TV catchup service called “NBC Direct” which will enable users to download and view some of the network’s more popular shows — free of charge — for up to one week after broadcast (after which downloads will expire, similar to catchup services offered by the main UK television networks).

“NBC Direct” will begin by offering episodes of “Heroes,” “The Office,” “Life,” “Bionic Woman,” “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Users will be given the option to subscribe to a show, so that the latest episode is automatically downloaded.

The U.S.-only service is planned to roll out as a Beta in October and will require a PC running Windows, with future versions adding support for Macs and various portable devices. Other features in the pipeline include p2p-based distribution and  purchase-to-own and rental options which will offer higher quality downloads.

As NewTeeVee notes, where does “NBC Direct” leave Hulu, NBC and News Corp.’s joint Internet TV venture?