Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee has crafted an open letter to George Lucas, re: eventual distribution options for his in-the-works Star Wars TV series:

Mr. Lucas, take a cue from Radiohead, and tell the networks to take a hike.

Why bother with traditional TV? You own the one of the biggest brands in the, well, universe. The shows are already being produced without a network commitment. Avoid the hassle of negotiating terms with networks around the world (and dealing with their marketing and promotions).

But most of all, it would give you what you are famous for — control.

The reference to Radiohead seems a little bit off the mark, as Albrecht doesn’t seem to be suggesting that Lucas set up his own storefront and/or allow fans to set their own price. It’s also worth noting that Radiohead’s price-it-yourself experiment has not been an unqualified success: though 1.2 million copies were legitimately purchased last week, another 500,000 were downloaded illegally. But if Georgie were to follow one of Albrecht’s suggestions and broadcast his series via an ad supported video sharing network like Brightcove, piracy wouldn’t be an issue, and he’d be able to keep all ad revenue for himself.

It would be a very, very encouraging sign if someone like Lucas were to wake up to the fact that the internet is where his fan base lives, and subsequently take the initative to come to them. But even if Albrecht is right in that an online-self release would actually give Lucas *more* control over his content, I think the perception amongst traditional media producers is still that the internet is the wild west, and that releasing content in this world is equivalent to giving up control. Isn’t that why Video ID exists?