Those who want their gay TV are finding a growing array of options, including 24/7 all-gay cable networks like Logo and now online outlets for watching shows previously available only on TV.

The web isn’t just for blogs, podcasts and cruising sites. The ability to download and watch gay-themed TV programs from the internet is gaining momentum as viewers increasingly demand instant gratification from content providers.

Gay television network Here!TV and the newly formed OutZoneTV.com, a collaborative effort between Bravo and PlanetOut.com, are working to provide all-hours access to gay programming via the web.

"New technology always provides new opportunities for us to connect with our audiences," says Eric Feldman, the 37-year-old executive vice president of programming and operations for Here!TV, which is currently available on most digital cable providers as an on-demand service. "To be able to reach your audience, you really need to be available on as many systems as possible."

The Here!TV solution to this trend is pairing up with Google video. For the technologically impaired, go to the Google homepage and click on "more" at the right side of the bar above the search box. You’ll be taken to a page with expanded search options. Find the "video" link and then type "here tv" into the search box.

While Here! occasionally charges a fee, OutZone.com, which will feature streaming video rather than downloadable content, will be completely free. PlanetOut, a leading gay internet company that also encompasses Gay.com, merged with LPI-Media in November 2005 to create a consolidated media company that includes the Advocate, Out and HIVPlus magazines.

PlanetOut will be promoting and selling advertising for Bravo’s OutZone.com says the company’s president, Mark Elderkin, 42.

"We came up with a partnership opportunity that leverages [Bravo’s] efforts in gay programming and our strength in national advertising sales," says Elderkin, who is gay.

According to Elderkin, advertisers will have a 10 to 15 second spot at the beginning of each video. Unlike television where viewers can get up and get a drink during boring commercial breaks, internet viewers have to watch the advertisements before the segment begins.

"[Advertisers] can get really innovative and deliver things that were limited to TV only," says Elderkin.

Bravo will be relying on the advertising power of its partner to spread the word about OutZoneTV.com to PlanetOut’s five million plus monthly visitors.

"They absolutely have an expertise in advertising to people who are targeting gay and lesbian viewers," says Jason Klarman, the senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy for NBC-owned Bravo.

Klarman says the company is still developing its programming content, but familiar Bravo shows are slated to be part of the available lineup. Re-runs of previous shows "Boy Meets Boy" and "Manhunt: The Search for America’s Most Gorgeous Male Model" will make their appearance on the site.

"We have a very loyal gay viewership to the channel," says Klarman. "Bravo is a very upscale, urbane pop culture channel."

SOME GAY MALE VIEWERS have used streaming video for content other than Bravo shows. Online video streaming was pioneered in part by the internet’s most stalwart industry: porn.

"The two places in the world where you can count on excessive money spending is in the government and the adult [industry]," says Mark Hovanec, a producer with Jet Set Productions, the company behind the "Wet Palms" porn series. Consisting of nine episodes, the serial is a dialogue heavy (especially for porn) comic soap opera full of hardcore gay sex.

"Wet Palms" first appeared on the net in September 2004. Full episodes were available to those who couldn’t wait for the DVD release.

"While no one got rich off our web sales, it was a huge component in branding that made people feel this is a product to be taken seriously," says Hovanec. "This is not just porn du jour."

The use of new technology by porn companies is nothing new, according to Seth Clark Silberman, currently a lecturer in the women’s studies department of Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and a past lecturer for the Larry Kramer Initiative for Gay & Lesbian Studies at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

"Technology has always been connected to sexuality," Silberman says. "Most of the reasons VCRs became as popular as they did was because you could rent porn on videos."

Hovanec agrees that now-mainstream technology was first used by groundbreakers in the porn industry.

"The video conferencing that occurs at major corporations today is a direct result of the work done by ‘Live and Raw’," says Hovanec, referencing an internet TV program where subscribers can watch young men have sex live. "The internet has been the cutting edge for very practical business applications that are being used by traditional industries."

WHILE PORN MIGHT be the driving force behind unfolding online video capabilities, using the web to watch shows normally found on television remains largely an untested practice. Networks and studios are not willing to give up all their assets.

"I don’t want to watch ‘Harry Potter’ online," says Hovanec. "I want the packaging, the booklet. You’re dealing with people who want instant gratification and then the people who want the tangible product."

Stephen Tropiano, gay TV expert and author of "The Prime Time Closet," says it’s too early to toss in the towel on standard TV.

"These companies are trying the web out to see if people are going onto their computer and watching on a regular basis," says Tropiano. "What probably is the smartest thing for networks is to make stuff available for people to watch at any time."

The popularity of on-demand cable channels, which allow the viewer to access a show whenever you want, can be seen as the beginning stages of the direct connection between the internet and cable.

Both Hovanec and Feldman believe that the next jump is for internet video streaming to communicate directly with your cable box on the TV.

Standard cable television with scheduled programming and even DVDs will be a thing of the past.

"Everything is going to be an online download experience," says Hovanec. "The biggest development in Microsoft is the active interface between your television and your internet."

Feldman’s goal as the vice president of programming and operations for Here!TV is to be at the head of the line with the budding technologies to stay competitive in an evolving marketplace.

"[Television] went from cable to pay-per-view to digital to video on demand," says Feldman. "The next wave may be the first step into the next development of a medium."

Although you could make the argument that gay internet TV is inherently elitist in that you need the money for the computer, the broadband internet access and its attendant technologies, Tropiano says it provides opportunities for isolated individuals to get a glimpse into the gay world.

"There are a lot of people out there, there are a lot of teenagers for example, who are in the process of coming out and can actually watch stuff, that is not porn, that can be used to educate," he says.

Feldman echoes Tropiano’s sentiment, saying that part of Here’s reasoning for exploring internet television was to reach out to gay men and lesbians across the country.

"I always felt this was a project that was going to make a difference," Feldman says.

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