The new television season is about to begin, so cozy up to…your laptop.

The trend of watching TV shows on a computer continues to grow as the TV networks roll out more ways to see their programming in places other than the TV. On Thursday, NBC and ABC said they will make some episodes of their most popular shows available for free.

For NBC, which recently pulled the plug on its download deal with Apple’s iTunes, the shows will be free for one week immediately after their broadcasts. ABC shows will be available on AOL from today.

Vivi Zigler, executive vice president of NBC Digital Entertainment, tells PaidContent that the service will not compete with Hulu, the advertising-supported online joint venture between NBC and News Corp., parent of the Fox Network, which is also expected to launch next month.

(WSJ)
(PaidContent)
(NYT)

• Apple CEO Steve Jobs was subpoenaed by the U.S. SEC to give a deposition in a backdating lawsuit against Nancy Heinen, the company’s former general counsel. (Bloomberg)
• Scholastic reported a much smaller quarterly loss, supported by sales of the final Harry Potter book. The publisher affirmed its outlook for the current fiscal year. Harry Potter revenue soared to $240 million from $5 million a year earlier, when there was no new Potter book. (Reuters)
• Magazines Live! Consumer magazines leapfrogged newspapers in the share of the media advertising revenue pie in the first half of this year, versus the same period in 2006. Magazines had a 17.7 percent share of revenue, while newspapers slipped 1.1 percent to a 17.6 percent share. Overall, television still rules with a 44.9 percent share. (Folio)
• With strike jitters running high in Hollywood, screenwriters and studio executives reopened contract negotiations on Wednesday, after a nine-week break, but there was little sign of progress as talks adjourned for the day. (Reuters)
• Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather sued the network for $70 million, saying CBS violated his contract by depriving him of air time and made him a scapegoat to “pacify the White House.” Rather was removed as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” after 24 years in March 2005, after a scandal over a September 8, 2004, report on President George W. Bush’s military record. (Reuters)
• Viacom’s MTV will launch a Web social network to encourage youth activism. Think.MTV.com will be a resource for social and political issues, from the environment to immigration to discrimination. (Reuters)
• Sony said it was confident of doubling shipments of PlayStation 3 game consoles to 11 million in the year to March, and may buy more software firms to boost demand for its console. However it will postpone the launch of the “Home” virtual community service for the PS3 to next year, the latest setback in its videogame battle with Microsoft and Nintendo. (Reuters)

Check out a video of the PS3 story below:

(Photo: AOL.com)