This is so brilliant. I’ve been waiting for just this media model for a while. I knew it was only a matter of time.
ABC to offer various shows for free, with embedded ads.
https://money.cnn.com/2006/04/10/news/companies/disney.reut/index.htm
Apparently, it’s streaming only. No download, no iPodization. You can pause and rewind, but somehow it’s going to force you to sit through the ads. I don’t have a big problem with that. You’re paying for the content by sitting through a few minutes of ads. Look at it this way: say an episode of Lost contains 5 minutes worth of ads. You could get an ad-free version on iTunes for $1.99. So imagine they are paying you two bucks for five minutes of your time – which you can use to go to the bathroom or raid the refrigerator if you want.