Correspondents in New York | GENERAL Electric's NBC Universal said it would allow personal web sites to link to video snippets of NBC programs such as "Access Hollywood," underscoring the internet as a growing destination for video entertainment. Independent web site and blog owners can embed software widgets - small bits of code that function as dynamic applications when installed on a web page - linked to text and video clips from its shows. Other media companies including Viacom, CBS and the New York Times also let web enthusiasts post their programs or content.
Widgets based on television shows initially offered include NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and Dateline, as well as programming from NBC Sports, DotComedy.com and iVillage.com, NBC Universal said.
NBC's widget system is being supported by Clearspring Technologies. Previously, NBC let users post some of its video shows such as Saturday Night Live and Heroes onto their own web sites as part of an overall media industry move to seek new viewers wherever they spend time - even if it is on a friend's blog. To add a particular widget - also sometimes called a gadget - to a web page, users can with a few clicks locate the HTML source code of the program and insert it into their own web sites using standard web publishing tools.
Widgets have been popularised by web companies such as Google, Apple, Yahoo and Microsoft.
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