As Boxee preps for its public beta in the coming days, it just got a big ally.

Clicker, a thorough guide to Internet video, has been added to the platform, which hopes to bridge the gap between what’s online and what’s showing on your set.

A bit of background on both companies, since neither is widely known: Boxee is a free downloadable application that makes it easy to view online content from sites ranging from YouTube to CBS via your TV using a remote control. Clicker is a catalog of that content and includes over 400,000 episodes, from over 7,000 shows, from over 1,200 networks.  It also includes content from the Netflix and Amazon video-on-demand services.  

The team-up is one that makes plenty of sense.

Unfortunately, there’s one big hole in the relationship. While Clicker catalogs Hulu content on its PC application, it doesn’t do so on Boxee (as the streaming site is not an official Boxee content partner). The two services are working to add additional sources, though – and hopefully can get Hulu on board.

It’s the second partnership announcement for Boxee in two days. Yesterday, the service announced a team-up with Crackle, a Sony Pictures Entertainment division. That relationship will give users access to TV programs from the 70s and 80s, as well as more modern offerings like “The Tick” and “News Radio” 

Roku, the little box that was known for quite a  while as “that Netflix streaming device,” is broadening its lineup.

To be fair, the unit also streamed Amazon Video on demand and material from MLB.com, but it has now more than quadrupled the services it offers. Channels for Blip.tv, Facebook Photos, Flickr, FrameChannel, Mediafly, MobileTribe, Motionbox, Pandora, Revision3 Internet TV and TwiT,tv are coming on board.

Users will be able to choose which additional channels they want via an ‘app’ store similar to the one on your smart phone. The company says there will be a steady stream of new channels between now and the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

Roku has been assaulted on all sides as other consumer electronics devices – such as the Xbox 360, many new Blu-Ray players and Internet-enabled TVs - have enabled people to stream online video into their living room. So far, though, neither Roky now the competitors have managed to lure Hulu to their side. The first to do that will likely see a significant sales spike.

Apple’s reportedly shopping a new monthly subscription service to television networks that would seemingly put iTunes in competition with cable providers.

AllThingsD reports the company has been talking with networks about a $30 per month plan that would deliver programming via the popular software. The service would not be tied to specific hardware (such as Apple TV or the rumored tablet).

Apple is hoping to launch the service early next year, but so far no network has signed on – not even Disney-owned ABC, where Steve Jobs is on the board of directors. The nets are said to be cautious, as they don’t want to upset their cable system partners (and the subscription fees they generate).

Streaming video online is coming of age quickly. Netflix has seen incredible success with its “Watch Instantly” option – signing deals to stream via select Blu-Ray players, the Xbox 360 and (starting later this month) the PlayStation 3. Amazon offers a similar service and even YouTube has had a few successful experiments with long-form content as well.

Then, of course, there’s Hulu, which has found a solid audience online and is now exploring ways to further monetize itself.

With the large installed base of iTunes and the many outlets it services (including the iPhone and desktop PCs), there’s some promise in this. And with the influx of internet-enabled television sets hitting the market and predicted to grow fast, the time could be right for Apple to make a play in the field.

There are, of course, lingering questions. Even if Apple gets the major networks on board, would the service be equivalent to cable offerings? What about premium channels? Would programs be aired in conjunction with their broadcast premieres or would they be time delayed, as they are with FLO TV?

It’s an intriguing idea, though – and it sure would be interesting to see how Apple would distribute it. Hopefully, we’ll learn more at the company’s January event.

The free ride at Hulu may be coming to a close.

Chase Carey, deputy chairman at News Corp. (which owns part of the online streaming service), dropped a major hint that the Website could begin charging for content as early as next year.

“It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online,” he told Broadcast & Cable. “I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value. Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

The upside here for consumers is he doesn’t see a pay wall going up around the entire site. Instead, he pictures special features (such as, say, unaired “American Idol” auditions) as the best place to begin testing a pay model.

It’s a risky strategy. Online audiences have finally started to show a willingness to view ads with television programming after years of resistance. Asking them to begin paying more to watch elements of shows they can watch for free at home will be a bigger hurdle – and could steer some of the audience back to the pirate sites Hulu has been drawing people away from. 

A little consolidation this morning in the burgeoning Web television field. Online news and entertainment site Tubefilter has acquired competitor Tilzy.TV for an undisclosed sum.

The two are hardly strangers. They worked closely together this year to create the “Streamy” awards – recognizing outstanding achievement in shows produced exclusively for the broadband audience.

While both companies are decent-sized fish in the tiny, tiny pond that is Web TV, they hope that by creating a larger organization, they can build the audience to a sizable enough number that larger advertisers begin to take notice of the medium.

Tubefilter is making a serious push for ad dollars, launching a digital version of the “upfronts” that broadcast networks host each year. The initiative attracted execs from Sony and IFC this spring.

Web TV is still small, but has attracted the interest of some notable Hollywood names. Neil Patrick Harris’ performance in Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” created enough buzz for the character to cameo during this year’s Emmy awards. Rosario Dawson starred in “Gemini Division” for NBC.com. And Felicia Day is considered a leader in Web TV programming due to her work on “The Guild”.

You won’t see Rachel Ray or Paula Deen anywhere on Hungry Nation TV, but you may learn how to make a cocktail in just 12 seconds.

Next New Networks is launching the new online video network today, with a focus on food for the common man – and frugality.

“We are always trying to identify areas that are underserved by the media and see if there’s a way to serve that audience online through video,” says Lance Podell, CEO of Next New Networks. “Much of what [cable’s] Food Network focuses on is professional, but it’s over-aspirational. … What we thought about was how much food is a part of our live and how we all enjoy talking about and sharing food stories, but in a more mundane and real way.”

Hungry Nation will launch with two shows - VendrTV and Working Class Foodies – and plans to add a third (12 Second Cocktails) next month. By December, it plans to increase that number to five.

After three years of court fights, Cablevision’s controversial new digital video recording system is on its way to consumers’ homes.

The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear the appeal of a consortium of Hollywood studios looking to block the service. Cablevision said it plans to begin the roll out this summer.

The studios, which included Time Warner, General Electric’s NBC/Universal, CBS, Disney and Fox, alleged the new service would infringe on their copyrights.

Cablevision’s remote storage DVR system will allow users to record and store programming on centralized servers owned by the New York-based cable operator. Today’s DVRs record programming on a hard drive within a set-top box in the consumer’s living room.

The current equipment is expensive for cable operators to manufacture and install. Cablevision says the new service will result in considerable savings for it. Whether consumers will pay lower rates remains to be determined.

At issue is the common DVR practice of ad skipping. With its new service, Cablevision could see a substantial increase in the number of subscribers signing up for DVR service. (Industry experts believe the new technology could put DVR technology in nearly half the homes in America.)

Do the owners of Movieline know something Nick Denton doesn't?

Apparently they think they do, because they've hired the three full-time editors of Defamer -- Seth Abramovitch, S.T. VanAirsdale and Kyle Buchanan -- to relaunch the defunct Movieline magazine brand on the Web. 

Denton, owner of Defamer parent company Gawker Media, recently shut down Defamer as an independent site and rolled it into the Gawker blog. The move came as he's been selling off and downsizing assets due to the developing downturn in online advertising (or at least online advertising growth).

But the new owners of Movieline apparently think there's money to be made from the Defamer formula. So much so that they're willing to not only buy the talent behind it, but expand their resources.

“Defamer combined the wit of The Onion, the breaking industry news of Variety and the watercooler chatter of Page Six,” Jay Penske, CEO of Mail.com Media Corporation, which now owns Movieline, in a press release. “It changed the way Hollywood works and Movieline.com will take that one step further.”

It's expected to launch sometime in the spring.

Oh, and as a side note, how weird is it that after Movieline shut down the brand got bought by the company behind mail.com? A Web firm that makes its money off (duh) online e-mail? Still, it's got some money to make this happen. According to CNET News, the company raised a healthy $35 million in October.