Watch great documentaries without incurring the wrath of the MPAA.

Great news, documentary lovers. Frontline and HBO Documentaries are now streaming their full-length programs free online.

PBS's Frontline (possibly taking a page from the creators of South Park) has uploaded the last few years worth of episodes including the recent Bush's War and my personal favorite the Merchants of Cool.

HBO Documentaries (who recently won the bidding war for Jennifer Venditti's documentary Billy the Kid) will be be streaming their new films for short periods of time. Tricia Regan's Autism: the Musical has been streaming since Wednesday and will be available until this Sunday.

There is also a new site FreeDocumentaries.org that indexes all documentaries available on Google's free video streaming site. Their selection includes Barbara Kopple's Shut Up and Sing, the incredible BBC series the Power of Nightmares, Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight and dozens more.

And YouTube competitor DailyMotion has recently launched Cinema Daily Motion, starting out with the festival darling Red Without Blue.

Related: Agnes Varnum reports PBS's POV 2008 line up announcement.   

Comments

[mp planet]

I love documentaries, but I don't see much sufferance between the TV and the computer honestly- only that on the computer I always choose what to watch- a big plus if you ask me! Thanks for the website!

[Erin]

Wow Scott, that's an amazing site. Thanks!

[PirateScott]

Watching documentaries can be a great learning tool. The problem is that many of us are spending less and less time watching TV these days...the internet is becoming the primary media source globally.

So, if you like to watch good quality documentaries or you know someone that would benefit from this...visit Online Documentaries 4 U - http://documentaries4u.blogspot.com/

[Joanna]

Hi!

Love the blog! I will check out hbo's site right away. But I also want to recomend a site that I think that you and all readers with documentary interest should check out! I found it the other day, it's called factualtv (http://www.factualtv.com/) and it's for free. they have a lovely selection of documentaries. So be sure to check it out!

All the best!