ABC Will Feature Prime Time Shows Online

ABC will feature its top TV series free online for a two-month trial. The trail run will be supported by advertising revenue, with advertisers AT&T Inc., Ford Motor Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Universal Pictures already signed up. Viewers will be able to pause and move between "chapters" in an episode but will not be able to skip embedded ads.

The ABC shows that will be available for online watching are "Commander in Chief" and "Alias" along with "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." All episodes will be on the Web in May and June, starting the day after they are first broadcast.

Leading U.S. media companies are experimenting with ways to deliver programs via new technologies and still maintain revenue as viewer ship for their prime-time schedules slowly erodes. ABC sells digital downloads of its highest-rated TV shows for the popular iPod music and video player, while other networks have been testing online and video-on-demand formats for airing shows soon after they first appear on broadcast TV.

                                 

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