Disney-ABC Television Group has made a deal with Verizon to make ABC shows available on video-on-demand to FiOS TV subscribers. Terms of the deal call for Verizon to disable the fast-forward button so that viewers cannot skip through the commercials contained in a show.
The shows are being offered in high definition and at no charge to subscribers.
ABC previously made a deal with Cox Communications that similarly disabled the fast-forward function while playing shows on VOD.
In a California trial of the service, research conducted by Knowledge Networks/Statistical Research showed 93% of users of fast-forward-disabled VOD found the advertising acceptable in exchange for gaining free access to the ABC shows. The research also found that the addition of ABC series to Cox’s offering boosted new usage of the VOD platform and increased frequency of usage by previous users.
“This is yet another example of our dedication to exploring innovative models that enable us to both make our most popular content available to viewers on a variety of platforms and add value to our distribution and advertising partners,” said David Preschlack, executive VP of Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing.
FiOS claims to have the largest VOD library in the industry with more than 11,000 titles per month.
“The addition of ABC’s video-on-demand content is another way for Verizon to offer our FiOS TV customers the ultimate entertainment experience,” said Terry Denson, VP for content and programming at FiOS TV. “And the new HD programming from ABC helps bring us even closer to our promise to offer FiOS TV customers access to over 1,000 HD video-on-demand titles every month by year-end.”
Separately, the FiOS TV lineup will add NHL Center Ice, a subscription sports package that includes select games in HD, and the all-HD NHL Network.