« Fleury gets a Red Hat | Main | Google Calendar - waiting for synch »
April 12, 2006
ABC to stream "free" TV episodes
Yesterday, ABC announced that it plans to offer episodes of four of its shows for free streaming on the Net the day after they're broadcast. The episodes will include ads but will be "free". The test will run from May through June and the shows will not be limited to availability in the US. Offering streams of popular shows to a potentially gigantic audience could pose a couple of problems though.
Another sign of the Internet-enabled disruption of traditional media broadcasting.
I wonder what the non-US broadcasting companies think of this move? Here in Germany, we're about a season behind on many of the shows and being able to pick up episodes legally off the Net well in advance of the local showing will be attractive to quite a number of people. How many potential viewers in English and non-English speaking countries will then switch away from their local broadcaster and pick up the episodes off the Net and what will this mean to ad-funded TV in general?
Posted by Matthew at April 12, 2006 02:46 PM