Juicy Partnership

The Disney-ABC TV Group, ESPN and Cox intend to bear VOD fruit through a collaborative trial in the MSO’s Orange County, CA, market. Still contingent on the finalization of terms, the partnership strives to test several advanced on demand opportunities, including dynamic ad insertion on Cox’s VOD platform and the syndication of ABC’s broadband player on Cox.net, allowing users to watch full ad-supported eps of certain ABC prime series 1 day following their linear debuts. In addition, eps of popular ABC series "Desperate Housewives," "Grey’s Anatomy," "Lost" and "Ugly Betty" will beginning this fall be available on Cox’s VOD service the day after their net premieres, and Cox will disable the fast- forward option on its VOD service for all ABC and ESPN content. At a Cable Show panel on Tues, Disney evp, digital media Albert Cheng said ABC’s Cox deal is simply an attempt to create a "sustainable long-term business… They want it free. They want access. And they’re willing to sit through the ads." Cheng added that Disney and Cox hope to add targeted ads in the future.