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This just in ...

Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker drops by "The View" today (11 a.m., WJLA-ABC7) to perform selections from his debut country music CD, "Learn to Live," along with tunes that made him a star with the band.

He'll also offer a clip from the CMT series "Invitation Only: Darius Rucker," debuting Friday at 11 p.m. on the cable network.

TW, Comcast team

Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. are pushing ahead with a plan to make big cable network shows available online to existing cable subscribers shortly after their first airing, the Hollywood Reporter says.

On Wednesday, the two industry titans unveiled a set of guiding principles for what TW has dubbed TV Everywhere and announced a national technical trial of what Comcast will name its On Demand Online service, starting with 5,000 customers in July.

The nonexclusive service is free of additional charges to Comcast subscribers and will start with such TW programming as TNT's "The Closer" and TBS' "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," with other networks expected to be added later. TW Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bewkes said the idea is to allow consumers to watch their favorite shows on any screen - be it a TV or device screen - on demand, with networks' and distributors' Web sites being possible access locations.

Mr. Bewkes and Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian L. Roberts signaled that they don't plan to provide an option for consumers to subscribe to the Web offering only without also having a cable video contract. "We don't know the answer to that [and will let things unfold]," Mr. Bewkes told THR.

While some have called the initiative a defensive move, Mr. Bewkes said it will stack up well compared to other digital video services. "This is offensive," potentially increasing ratings and ad sales and giving consumers more options, he said.

"It's like iTunes, but better, because you get it for free" as long as you are a cable subscriber. He also said Hulu and YouTube would be dwarfed by the online views if TV's entire multichannel universe adopts TV Everywhere. In that case, "this will be by far the highest video watched in the U.S. - past Hulu and YouTube," Mr. Bewkes said. "This will be the biggest story in VOD and Internet video."