Andy, Will It Work? Rabbit TV

(WMC-TV) - ANDY, WILL IT WORK? Rabbit TV = DON'T BUY!

$10 doesn't sound like much. With Rabbit TV, it's $10 too much.

The $10 you pay for Rabbit TV will buy you a convenience: a bunch of the Internet's free TV, movie and radio station content links all in one spot.

But there's nothing you can find through the $10 Rabbit TV that you can't find through a free Google search.

"Everything that they have is free content that you could access on your own," said Jeff Horton, web data security expert and CEO of the Internet security and infrastructure company One Point Solutions Group in Germantown, TN. "It's kind of nice to have everything there at your fingertips (with Rabbit TV), but really, this is just a content aggregation service."

Horton clicked on NBC's Law & Order SVU TV series. Rabbit TV linked him to NBC's own program site -- again, a site consumers can surf directly for free.

Horton selected a classic episode of Green Acres on Rabbit TV. It linked him to Hulu.com's free content site -- again, readily searchable for free. Except this time, Rabbit TV posted an ad for HuluPlus, Hulu.com's paid service. It encouraged Horton to buy a subscription, but offered him no special or exclusive access through Rabbit TV.

Horton selected a full-length movie, the Will Smith flick Enemy of the State. Rabbit TV immediately started running the full feature-length film.

But we noticed it carried a YouTube bug.

Horton exited Rabbit TV, then pulled up YouTube on his computer's browser. He searched and found the exact same movie clip -- full length -- for free.

Horton didn't find any content through the $10 Rabbit TV USB stick that he couldn't find for free through a simple Google or YouTube search.

Making matters worse, Rabbit TV requires you to register:  your name, address, preferences, even your date of birth.

Its terms and conditions say "...you will automatically be signed up to receive our newsletter along with other various e-mails from Rabbit TV."

In its privacy policy, Rabbit TV reveals, "We may use your personal and non-personal information for our internal analysis, promotions, co-branded service offerings so we may share information with certain businesses..."

"So you're just giving them a vehicle to market and actually study your information, your demographic information," Horton said. "You're probably going to get a lot more junk mail when you sign up for this service."

Rabbit TV's maker and marketer, Telebrands, explained its privacy policy and registration requirements are meant to enhance consumers' viewing experience.

"With our registration process, we are able to enhance our subscribers' experience by highlighting movie premieres, newly added programming and premium channels," said a Telebrands e-mail statement. "Rabbit TV eliminates the need to spend hours searching the web for entertainment by providing the world's largest online library of popular TV shows, movies and more in one easy-to-access location."

But we also noticed that after using Rabbit TV for a year, you have to pay another $10 a year -- every year -- in order to keep using it.

"So you're paying annually for basically a membership to their web site," said Horton.

Rabbit TV is a Don't Buy.

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