Beginning in mid August, new episodes of Fox shows, including “Glee” and “Family Guy,” will no longer be available to watch for free on Fox.com or video site Hulu until eight days after they debut, Fox says. To watch before that, viewers will need to prove they subscribe to a participating TV service, or watch through Hulu’s paid subscription service, Hulu Plus. Programs will be available to paying subscribers the day after they air.

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The move by Fox comes four weeks after ABC, CBS and NBC blocked their programming from Google TV amid uncertainty over how television companies will make money as more video content is distributed over the Web.

Google declined to comment. When ABC, CBS and NBC first blocked their videos from its service, a spokeswoman said in a statement: “Google TV enables access to all the Web content you already get today on your phone and PC, but it is ultimately the content owners’ choice to restrict their fans from accessing their content on the platform.”

Fox, like the Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp.

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… And get hooked on it, and then watch it throughout the fall season–either on ad-supported network TV or as a paid download from the iTunes store. Which doesn’t sound like such a bad strategy when you think about it. Certainly, it’s far more appealing than NBC Universal’s hilariously ill-conceived download service and an interesting alternative to ABC’s, which will put full-length prime-time shows on AOL one day after they air on broadcast television.

That said, all three networks’ strategies are problematic in that they require the audience to access programming in disparate ways. Even traditional broadcast TV, as antiquated as it is, doesn’t force viewers to watch different networks on different systems. “The consumer is probably becoming confused,” notes 24/7 Wall St.’s Douglas A. McIntyre. “He will need to go to AOL to watch ABC. CBS programming is on the iPod. NBC will be doing direct downloads from its own Web site. NBC and News Corp. are starting a joint online venture called Hulu. TV and film will also be available on the Amazon Unbox. Wal-Mart has started a video download service. The large retailer will charge for its content. NetFlix is also planning an online movie service. Viewers will be better off getting their TV and movies from illegal file-sharing sites. At least all of the content is available from one source.”

… And get hooked on it, and then watch it throughout the fall season–either on ad-supported network TV or as a paid download from the iTunes store. Which doesn’t sound like such a bad strategy when you think about it. Certainly, it’s far more appealing than NBC Universal’s hilariously ill-conceived download service and an interesting alternative to ABC’s, which will put full-length prime-time shows on AOL one day after they air on broadcast television.

That said, all three networks’ strategies are problematic in that they require the audience to access programming in disparate ways. Even traditional broadcast TV, as antiquated as it is, doesn’t force viewers to watch different networks on different systems. “The consumer is probably becoming confused,” notes 24/7 Wall St.’s Douglas A. McIntyre. “He will need to go to AOL to watch ABC. CBS programming is on the iPod. NBC will be doing direct downloads from its own Web site. NBC and News Corp. are starting a joint online venture called Hulu. TV and film will also be available on the Amazon Unbox. Wal-Mart has started a video download service. The large retailer will charge for its content. NetFlix is also planning an online movie service. Viewers will be better off getting their TV and movies from illegal file-sharing sites. At least all of the content is available from one source.”