Disney to Offer Free Soaps and Shows Online
Posted on April 11, 2006
ZDNet reports that Disney is planning to offer a free two-month trial of free tv shows. The tv shows will include hits like Alias, Lost and Desperate Housewives. They are also planning a Soap channel called Soapnetic. The shows will be ad supported.
Advertising revenue will support the trial run on ABC.com, with advertisers AT&T, Ford, Procter & Gamble and Universal Pictures already signed up.Disney's ABC TV network was one of the first to team up with iPod to sell downloads of popular tv shows so it is no surprise that Disney is now trying its own service. Update: A preview of Soapnetic can be found here."Commander in Chief" and "Alias" along with "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" will be available on the Web in May and June, starting the day after they are first broadcast.
Viewers will be able to pause and move between "chapters" in an episode but will not be able to skip ads that are technically embedded.
Disney is also launching a high-speed Internet channel for soap opera fans, called Soapnetic, on April 17 for subscribers to Verizon Communications' Internet services.