IP Democracy: ABC to Stream Popular Shows Over the Web in April

Speaking today at an NCTA-organized press briefing regarding the hot-button issue of a la carte programming, Disney’s Washington rep Preston Padden revealed that Disney will start “to stream shows over the Internet in April.” After further investigation, this curious scoop was actually announced in early March (reg. required) by ABC President of Sales and Marketing Mike Shaw at the 4As convention in Orlando. (Thanks Paige A.!)

ABC will start making available some of its “most popular shows” on its MyABC web site, with the programs slated to be streamed 12 hours after their initial network broadcast. Viewers won’t be able to fast-forward or pause the programs and each program will have a single advertiser, with one 30-second commercial at the beginning of the stream and three commercial breaks within the program.

Although ABC President Bob Iger mentioned in February that ABC would start to stream its programs over the web, he didn’t say when. ABC’s heated experimentation with alternative distribution media (the company was the first major programmer to sell its wares via iTunes) has surely raised the panic levels at affiliated broadcast stations.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on March 15, 2006 4:21 PM to IP Democracy