AOL Video gets to offer Disney-ABC (DIS) primetime lineup

Posted Sep 20th 2007 11:23AM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Products and Services, Time Warner (TWX), Marketing and Advertising, Walt Disney (DIS)

Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), and AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) have announced the availability of full-length episodes of popular primetime shows on AOL Video. The shows will be available via a co-branded version of ABC.com's broadband player and starting next week will feature ABC's new fall lineup of programming.

Additionally, the two companies will team to offer select short-form programming from ABC through an embedded short-form player, which will debut on AOL later this year and will include both original and derivative content from ABC. Here is part of the programming that will be offered the day after their broadcast premieres:

"The Bachelor" (premieres online Tuesday, September 25);
"Big Shots" (premieres online Friday, September 28);
"Brothers & Sisters" (premieres online Monday, October 1);
"Carpoolers" (premieres online Wednesday, October 3);
"Cavemen" (premieres online Wednesday, October 3);
"Dancing with the Stars" (premieres online Tuesday, September 25);
"Desperate Housewives" (premieres online Monday, October 1);
<"Dirty Sexy Money" (premieres online Thursday, September 27);
"Eli Stone" (online premiere TBD);
"Grey's Anatomy" (premieres online Friday, September 28);
"Lost" (online premiere TBD);
"MEN IN TREES" (premieres online Saturday, October 13);
"October Road" (online premiere TBD)
"Private Practice" (premieres online Thursday, September 27);
"Pushing Daisies" (premieres online Thursday, October 4);
"Samantha Who?" (premieres online Tuesday, October 16);
"Ugly Betty" (premieres online Friday, September 28).

One key issue stands out in the release; it says the NEW FALL LINEUP. Networks have been offering old video, butfew have opened up their new programming for free. Some choose shows on a selective basis and some have held back plans to unroll a similar deal. Granted, AOL Video will offer the videos a day after the television premiere, but also generally four episodes per series will be available at any given time.

Maybe by 2009 there will be a true convergence between live PC and TC, something we have all been waiting for since the end of the 1990s.

Tags: aol video, AolVideo, dis, disney-abc, inthenews, time warner, TimeWarner, twx, walt-disney

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-20-2007 @ 5:08PM

Seth said...

Is this another effort by Time Warner to revive AOL? Has this deal shown any results with CBS? NewsVisual did an interesting article and map on this story http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/09/aol-deal-with-a.html , showing the connections between Disney and Time Warner on an interactive map. Some of the connections are quite strong, actually.