For my money, the clear winner in the major television networks race to the Internet this past spring was ABC. The network used ABC.com to stream ad-supported television episodes from its most popular series. NBC, CBS and Fox all followed suit when it became apparent that ABC was on to something, but their offerings fell short. Today, ABC is talking about expanding upon its streaming offerings in the fall.

In an article from CNET News.com Albert Cheng, executive vp digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group, talked about the changes, which will apparently include "slightly longer commercial inventory." Cheng downplayed the impact of longer commercials on the viewer. It's interesting that later in the story a statistic is referenced which states that 87% of the viewers were able to recall the advertisers who sponsored the stream. That is a staggeringly high percentage, and it makes you wonder why ABC would need to lengthen the advertisements.

Two of the shows which were offered by ABC, "Commander in Chief," and "Alias" have since been cancelled, so the online lineup will be augmented, possibly with new ABC dramas or even a half-hour comedy added into the mix. Let's hope greed doesn't cripple ABC.com's streaming TV offerings because they were an important step forward for the networks. — Brian Ward

Go to story from CNET News.com

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