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ABC Takes Prime Time Shows Online

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

April 10, 2006, 2:05 PM

Disney said Monday that it would further expand its online programming options by making four popular ABC prime time television shows available online the day after they air. The offering is part of a two-month trial that would begin in May.

The free TV episodes would be advertiser supported, with AT&T, Ford, Procter & Gamble and Universal Pictures already having bought ad space in the online broadcasts.

"Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "Commander and Chief," and "Alias" would be made available. Newer episodes of the shows will appear online the morning after they air. Users would be able to skip between the "chapters" of an episode, but they would not be able to skip over embedded commercials.

ABC has already made all the shows except for "Alias" available through the iTunes Music Store for $1.99 USD per commercial-free episode. However, in this test the episodes would only be streamed and not available for download to a portable device.

Episodes would be in a 16x9 video format. Additionally, the videos would be encoded in Flash 8 which would make them viewable on both Mac and PC platforms. The standard viewing size would be 500x282 pixels, however a higher bandwidth version would be available at 700x394 pixels.

"This announcement highlights the momentum we've achieved both in launching new broadband services and working with strategic partners in the digital media space, to ensure that our high-quality, informative and entertaining content is available to consumers whenever and wherever they choose," said Disney-ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney.

"I have been amazed at how long it has taken for any of the mainstream broadcasters to understand the role of the Internet and its impact on their future for some time," commented Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin. "This is a major milestone for the PC and TV industries and most likely will be looked back in history as the tipping point for the fledgling IPTV market."

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By acascianelli

posted Apr 11, 2006 - 8:53 AM

I say make all episodes free WITH ads, but don't use any DRM so we can put them on portable devices.

If they're worried about bandwidth, they could use Bittorrent.

Score: 0

By templar™

posted Apr 10, 2006 - 11:04 PM

Guys, give them time. I think this is a good start. And it's FREE! :)

Score: 0

By twosheds

posted Apr 10, 2006 - 8:12 PM

FLV (flash)encoding - like watching glittery scum undulate on a pond. Think they'll have to offer a bit more than that to make this fly.

Score: 0

By SteveJohnSteele

posted Apr 10, 2006 - 7:38 PM

with just about every TV episode already available a few hours after they air (ad free, HD and Dolby 5.1) - any lesser quality will simply be ignored

$1.99 is an insanely expensive amount - think $1.99 x 24 episodes = $47.76 (£27.40) - a simular price to the DVD box set (and nowhere near the quality)

compare this to the
£120 per year TV licence
OR
Sky satellite £39.99 per month x 12 months = £479.88 per year

then assume 4 hours tv a day x 365 days = 1460 hours a year

£120 / 1460 = £0.08 per hour
£479.88 / 1460 = £0.32 per hour

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Apr 11, 2006 - 8:56 AM

Er...

This service is free. They mentioned the 1.99 price for Alias eps in the past only to give an indication of past attempts.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Apr 10, 2006 - 4:24 PM

Bah. I can get LOST eps the morning after in high-def, commercial-less, XVID encodes from alt.binaries.multimedia.

If some idiot in a basement, making no money, can distribute the show to thousands of people in higher-quality overnight, the companies can sure as hell do the same.

They could even charge for it. Say...$2 an ep.

Anything *less* than the quality of commercial-free releases already on the net, and they're wasting their time.

This is garbage. It is unfortunate most folks out there are unaware of the alternatives, legit or not. A service such as this *should* be still-born. Sadly, due to the nature of the beast, it'll probably be a hit.

Score: 0

By rijp

posted Apr 11, 2006 - 9:27 AM

Except that idiot could decide that they don't want to upload them anymore, then where would you be?

Companies, don't like to be responsible for show content after the fact. Its a live broadcast.

We have Tivo, Replay TV, VCR, etc..

Frankly, I am surprised they are doing it all.

I think the trial is more for them than for customers who are requesting the shows. I like the idea, because I don't have a TV, so this would be nice to actually watch a show on my computer. I was just looking last night, for some shows to watch. Thanks for the heads up on the alt.binaries.multimedia.

I just got a new Giganews account, so now I can get repeat content, although I don't like lost..

They post other shows? But who knows, maybe I will check it out again.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Apr 11, 2006 - 3:15 PM

"Companies, don't like to be responsible for show content after the fact. Its a live broadcast."

Really? Live? LOST? Not that I was aware.

After the fact? You mean before the DVD release, right?

ab.m, and ab.tv both have very many.

(And as far as that "one" idiot, there are several idiots, actually, so I'm pretty safe. ;P)

Got sick of dealing with the RAR/PAR crapola though. The EasyNews "AutoUnRAR" feature is quite nice. Download the full AVI/MPG without having to extract/verify. (also allows thumbnail view to make sure some idiot didn't mis-label it). That, with 20GB a month and rollover...damn, now I sound like a commercial.

Had 70GB saved up at one point...Can't remember where the hell it all went.