Video site Hulu has partnered with MSN, Yahoo! and AOL to provide television programmes and films supported by advertising.It supplies video on a subdomain of the sites of its distribution partners, which also include MySpace and Comcast.
The company, backed by NBC Universal and Fox, launched a test phase of its service on Monday, during which users could sign up and receive an invitation to join.
Videos on offer from Hulu include the Simpsons, the Office, Scrubs and Battlestar Galactica.
Registered users will be able take clips of the shows, email them to contacts and put them on their blogs.
In a company blog, Hulu stated that it has "been hard at work on a service that offers a great selection of television shows, clips, feature films and more that you can enjoy for free and on-demand".
"You should expect to see us adding more content and more functionality throughout the private beta period and beyond," it added.
As well as current hit shows, there will also be a "large number" of classic television series on offer, including Miami Vice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The A-Team.
According to the Associated Press, Hulu - which is intended as a tool for content providers to control their output and benefit from advertising revenue - is likely to be "tweaked" before it launches its final version in a few months time.
