Funny or Die will premiere the first episode of the new season of Flight of the Concordes at noon on Friday Wednesday Dec 17th according to Aint it Cool News (h/t NTV). While this is great for those of us who have been looking forward to this for months, I would much rather watch it in HD on HBO.

This will likely generate some substantial buzz ahead of the show when the first episode debuts on HBO Jan 9th, and it will drive more views on the new Funny or Die Flight of the Concordes section, but as an HBO subscriber why does my user experience have to suffer? I pay a premium to be able to watch it on my big TV while I drink a beer in my living room. Why dilute that value?

Several announcements today about web series crossing over to television and film. Variety reports HBO has ordered 10 half hour segments from Funny or Die and taken a small equity stake in the company - a smart deal as HBO is in need of low cost highly original, high quality niche content, something Funny or Die has plenty of. HBO provides Funny or Die access to the larger audience they’ve been seeking.

Seth Rogen’s YouTube trailer for the nonexistent film Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse (above) will become a feature in reality according to the Hollywood Reporter. Mandate Pictures has agreed to finance the film and they’re shopping for a director.

And highly successful Suave and Sprint vehicle In the Motherhood will next season make the jump to ABC according to Entertainment Weekly, assuming that is, the talent signs on.

(h/t NTV and ReelPop)

The timing couldn’t be more ironic. First Netflix, and now HBO is jumping into the streaming game. HBO is testing in those high video consumption markets Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The irony, of course, is that both companies, as well as others sure to announce plans in the future, are doing so as the debate over usage-based pricing for bandwidth from ISPs and MSOs begins to really get interesting. While this certainly bodes well for ad supported video content and ISPs becoming huge suppliers of behavioral data, it is not good for the people and companies who are driving the industry forward with innovative offerings.

Should ISPs cap your daily bandwidth even though you are downloading or streaming legal content? Seems like we had this issue last year, and two years ago, but the argument then was that the majority of bandwidth was being used for pirated content. Should we all revisit our T’s&C’s for our internet access? I recall quite vividly the discussion of what constituted “heavy use” and certain ISPs reluctance to answer is.