Buppies

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Yes Buppies.  I never even knew what the word meant until I looked it up on the Urban Dictionary.  So for those that don’t know.  According to the Urban Dictionary, Buppies are,

Black Urban Professionals.
It's a variation of Yuppies(Young Urban Professionals) geared towards black young urban professionals.

Now that we all know what Buppies are, your probably wondering why I’m posting about them here.  Well, its because its BET’s new series that they developed specifically for the web, with Tatyana Ali of Fresh Prince fame as Executive Producer.  This is probably the first time (you can correct me if I’m wrong) that a major TV network in North America has stepped out and developed a Web only series. Certainly we have had little tie in series like “Mode After Hours” which was a tie in for Ugly Betty.  But I’ve never heard of a major network actually going out and developing a new series for the Web specifically.

In 2008, we saw the release of “Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog”, which was produced by Joss Whedon of Buffy.   This was the first time that a Hollywood producer had created a web series, but now with a major network coming in I think that its only a matter of time before we see more Internet based content and perhaps even IPTV.  

With decreasing revenue from advertising, and increasing advertising dollars moving online, it only makes sense for Networks to try and make it online. 

Also, unlike before, there are now technologies in place to help online streaming go mainstream.  The Xbox 360 for months has had the capability built in to stream Netflix content, which previously would require someone to sit at there computer to watch.  Also, there are devices like the Roku box which do provide streaming of Netflix, as well as, other web content..  But more importantly, there are now HD TV sets that are coming with Wi-Fi and internet streaming applications coming built in to the TV set.  Online streaming is going to hit a new hit height and anyone that is there to catch the wave of consumer demand for online content will see some profit.

So I have to give it to BET for trying to enter the ring first.  Certainly, there are already a lot of online content providers out there to compete with, but if BET can succeed, it could change how TV is delivered for the rest of us. 

So what do you think? Do you like Buppies?