You remember the tech bubble bursting? When all the dot-coms that were doing a bang-up business but making no money finally had to admit that that doesn't qualify as "business?"

Well, someone's finally found a way to cash in--someone besides the pornbrokers, of course, who've been making money all along. Who, you ask, has accomplished this miracle?

hulu.com

This is a website that streams reruns of TV shows. Its CEO says hulu.com expects to double its revenue this year, reaching $240 million (thus spake Reuters).

Now, I will cop to having recently streamed all of the original Battlestar Galactica and most of Inuyasha. I have seen the commercials on hulu.com often enough to be sick of most of them.

What I'm wondering is how reruns supported by ads in the stream got to be a "new" business model. Cable has been doing it for decades.

Of course, cable has now sold out to program-length infommercials and shopping channels. Is that what's down the road for hulu.com?