The Disney Frontier Blog

I’m am amazed but glad that Disney/ABC seems to be leading the way on offering new and exciting ways to get their content. ABC was the first to jump on board with Apple iTunes to offer downloads of Desperate Housewives and Lost. Now they are going to offer 4 shows – Desperate Housewives and Lost included – for free from ABC.com in a special two month trial starting next in May. Currently shows cost $1.99 per episode from iTunes but during this special trial, the shows will be ad supported and therefore free.

This makes perfect sense to me. I don’t understand why an advertisement supported piece of content works in one medium but not another. Hopefully this test will prove that making content available in a variety of mediums is a win win for everyone. If I could have all my shows on demand, I would be just as willing to watch the ads – or fast forward them like I do today with my DVR – as if I were watching the program at its regularly scheduled time.

I haven’t seen in this new announcement anywhere where they discuss the quality of the download and whether users will be able to keep/store them on their hard drive or if it will be streaming only. Anyway, this is just a step forward in an industry that seems slow to adopt.

Read more here.