New business models for the entertainment industry.

It seems that television netwars are at a loss when it comes to the business of entertainment. The reason? Well, the Internet of course. Even though there has been a tougher crackdown on 'piracy' in the US than in Europe, the downloading of many popular shows has had some economic impact and it is certainly funny to see how slow the entertainment industry has been to react.
"We're going to experiment with different business models," Disney CEO Bob Iger said last week.
One of those 'business models' consists in allowing people to watch programs on the web for free with the commercials. In fact, ABC (owned by Disney) has began an Internet trial allowing viewers to watch four of its programs, (including hits like Desperate Housewives and Lost) with a 10-second sponsorship message from a single advertiser, followed by three commercials that air during breaks in the program.
So the idea, I suppose the deal is to convince people to play it safe by downloading legally while accepting to watch those annoying commercial breaks. Will it work?

Maybe... Apparenty, the ABC shows have been downloaded 3 million times since the Walt Disney Co. network launched the free service just over two weeks ago. That's probably a good sign. But they might also consider making those shows available for viewers outside the US which they currently do not. A bit amazing in this (very) global world of entertainment.