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The season opener of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and premiere of new JJ Abrams sci-fi show Fringe will be streamed online for US college students.
Fox has announced that computers logging on to its website from .edu domains at the time of broadcast will be granted access to the online simulcasts.
The network decided to go ahead with the idea after examining Fox.com visitor stats, which showed that a high proportion of students were logging on each day.
"We talked about what we could do with colleges given the fact that we have so much traffic coming from them," said Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori. "The light bulb went off - by simul-streaming Fringe and Sarah Connor, [the college students] get to see the show, and we get the increased fanbase and buzz."
Network chiefs hope that the measure will curb the trend of illegal downloads among college students who would otherwise be unable to see the programmes.
Liguori refused to confirm whether online simulcasts could become a regular feature on the Fox site. He said: "We'll see how this experiment goes."
Sarah Connor's new season begins on September 8, while the Fringe premiere airs on the following night.
