When NBC's "Conviction" premieres this Friday night, it could be a bit of an anticlimax for some viewers, and not just those of us who've memorized the teaser ads running endlessly during the Olympics. (The average age, we've been told weightily, for a district attorney on the island of Manhattan is 28 and, it seems, this is tragically too young. We can expect drama to ensue.) This is because NBC has been offering the first episode of the debuting drama for free to viewers through download from iTunes.

Future episodes will set you back $1.99, like most of the video offerings on iTunes, and will be available after their airing on the network. It's not an entirely new concept -- UPN took a stab at a variation on the practice when, following the premiere of "Everybody Hates Chris," that first episode was posted on Google Video online. However, "Conviction" debuting online some two weeks before its network debut, combined with the fact that viewers get to own -- rather than simply stream and watch the show -- make the "Conviction" roll-out a unique one.

We can expect to see more and more online "television" video content. Yahoo has been offering streaming music videos for years and MTV rolled out a Web-only channel called "MTV: Overdrive" last year, which offers music videos and shows for streaming. PBS even offers its library of "Frontline" news magazine episodes on the PBS Web site.

First Published: February 28, 2006, 5:00 a.m.