Disney/ABC to offer some shows online for free!

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MadonnasManOne
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Disney/ABC to offer some shows online for free!

Post by MadonnasManOne »

Taken from MSN.com:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did ... /?GT1=8022

ABC to offer some of biggest hits online for free
Shows like ‘Desperate Housewives’ available in two-month trial


Updated: 4:42 p.m. ET April 10, 2006
LOS ANGELES - ABC will offer four prime-time shows including “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” on its Web site for free for two months beginning in May as it continues to expand the ways consumers can watch TV online.

The shows will include advertising that cannot be skipped over during viewing. ABC, which is owned by The Walt Disney Co., already offers ad-free episodes for $1.99 each on Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes store.

The offerings on the ABC.com Web site will also include current episodes of “Commander in Chief,” as well as the entire season of “Alias,” and will be available through June. New episodes will be available online the day after they run on ABC.

The shows will be supported by advertisers, including AT&T Inc., Ford Motor Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Unilever PLC, among others.

The experiment comes as networks try to reach viewers who watch less TV in prime-time and are embracing technology that lets them watch shows on computers and portable devices, such as an iPod.

“It’s an opportunity for us to learn more about a different model,” Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, said in a panel discussion Monday at the cable industry’s annual convention in Atlanta.

“None of us can live in a world of just one business model. This is about the consumer, and how the consumers use all this new technology. It’s consumer first, business model second.”

ABC won't be 'on every single platform'
ABC was the first network to sell TV episodes online. Since then others, including NBC, CBS and several cable networks, have offered shows on iTunes, their own Web sites and on Google Inc.’s new video store. Time Warner Inc.’s AOL recently launched in2TV, which streams episodes of classic TV shows with ads.

ABC is working with advertisers to try new, interactive ads that will appear in the shows and will also offer sponsorships. Viewers will be able to pause the shows and skip to various “chapters,” but will not be able to fast forward through the ads.

Sweeney said that ABC would be cautious about other distribution deals, being careful to safeguard against piracy, ensure reliability of the technology, and make sure any deals are compatible with ABC brands. Whether such ventures are supported by marketing is also a concern, she said.

Sweeney said ABC had already rejected several other deals for possible distribution of TV shows, but she declined to say which ones.

“You’re not going to see us on every single platform,” she said.

ABC has not made shows available on Google’s video store. ABC has also not yet signed any agreements with cable companies to distribute its hit prime-time shows for on-demand replay services offered on cable, although Sweeney said they were in active talks with several providers.

ABC also said it will continue discussions with its local affiliate stations on ways to share revenue from online ad sales. Affiliates, as well as unions representing actors and writers, have sought a bigger cut of online revenue.

“Our ultimate goal is to find an effective online model, one in which our affiliates can take part,” Alex Wallau, president, operations and administration, ABC Television Network, said in a statement.

The Disney-ABC TV group also said Monday it will launch a broadband channel for soap opera viewers on April 17, available to Verizon Communications Inc. consumer broadband customers, called Soapnetic.
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Post by I am the Doctor »

MadonnasManOne wrote
ABC to offer some of biggest hits online for free
Shows like ‘Desperate Housewives’ available in two-month trial
I like this idea, I hope that this succeeds and that some of the other networks pick up on this idea. Would love to be able to watch the few shows I do like when I want, like "Ghost Whisperer" and "Doctor Who."
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Post by Luke »

Making shows available on a box for free and supporting it by advertising? This is an ingenious idea and I see it catching on!
"Fifteen years from now, when people are talking about 3-D, they will talk about the business before 'Monsters vs. Aliens' and the business after 'Monsters vs. Aliens.' It's the line in the sand." - Greg Foster, IMAX chairman and president
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deadstone
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Watching LOST over the internet?

Post by deadstone »

Hi,

I read somewhere (like The Register) that Disney is making shows like LOST available on their site for download?

Can anyone tell mw where on the disney site that link is?

thanks

Philip
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Post by JiminyCrick91 »

Last edited by JiminyCrick91 on Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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deadstone
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Watching ABC Shows over the internet

Post by deadstone »

Hi,

will these be available for users outside the US ?
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MadonnasManOne
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Re: Watching ABC Shows over the internet

Post by MadonnasManOne »

deadstone wrote:Hi,

will these be available for users outside the US ?
If you can access the ABC website, I don't see any reason why you won't be able to view them.
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Post by 2099net »

Well, non-UK browsers can access the BBC website, but they don't have access to the various broadband feeds. We already have tv show streaming and full episode previews (but admittedly, we have paid for them in the TV licence)

(And in a year or so's time we'll have our TV on Demand player, like the current radio player which will stream any show transmitted on TV for 7 days :up:)

They can tell via IP addresses where in the world the browser is located. I can't really see ABC wanting to swallow the bandwidth costs for non-US viewings, being as advertisers are unlikely to count overseas views as impressions.

Also, it would also seriously affect their relationships with oversea's television channels. For example, Channel 4 in the UK is only going to start transmitting season 2 of Lost next week. If lots of people had a chance to see the episodes before airing, no doubt Channel 4 would expect to nagotiate a lower price for the rights to screen the show.

So in conclusion, no I don't expect it to be available outside the US. But I could be wrong.
Most of my Blu-ray collection some of my UK discs aren't on their database
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Post by mickeymousechen »

When I visit movielink.com, it says as below:

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Post by 2099net »

Ha! Ironically given the first post in this thread, Channel 4 in the UK are streaming all of the S1 Lost episodes for a week before the start of S2 over here.
Most of my Blu-ray collection some of my UK discs aren't on their database
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Post by Finch »

I don't think ABCs protection against non-US'ers will be great, find a free proxy server in the US and you're set - perfectly legal, and nothing they can do.
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Post by mickeymousechen »

I tried an American anonymous proxy, but Movielink.com still tells me that. :x

Perhaps Movielink tries to add a lot of proxies to the blocklist.
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deadstone
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Post by deadstone »

mickeymousechen wrote:I tried an American anonymous proxy, but Movielink.com still tells me that. :x

Perhaps Movielink tries to add a lot of proxies to the blocklist.
How do we use anaonymous proxyy servers? I want to use oen in the US and one in the UK (Channel 4 is for UK only)

thx
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Post by JiminyCrick91 »

Damn it! USA ONLY! :( Why does every site do that!?!?
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Post by Finch »

JiminyCrick91 wrote:Damn it! USA ONLY! :( Why does every site do that!?!?
Because Buena Vista have sold the VOD rights outside of the country, stations out of the US would not like it if people stopped watching because they were free online.

I got in though, I used a program called ProxyWay and added a few US proxies and watched an episode of DH - pretty good quality.
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deadstone
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RE:ProxyWay

Post by deadstone »

Hi,

how did you find the US proxies - and which ones please did you use with ProxyWay ?

thx

Philip
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