TV Pilots Crash, Fans Race to the Web for the Next Viral Hit

TV Pilots Crash, Fans Race to the Web for the Next Viral Hit: "Once execs realize that web-surfing TV fans are perfectly capable of recognizing sleeper hits, networks' air-them-or-hide-them business model is bound to change, says Jordan Levin, former CEO of the WB network.

'It's inevitable,' says Jordan, who now helps run the content-creation company Generate. 'Whether it's a proactive strategy (by) media companies or whether pilots get posted by producers, directors, editors, a production assistant, an assistant at the network -- all it takes is one person to post a sitcom,' says Levin. 'We're shifting to a user-empowered era in which audiences take ownership of content.'"