September 13, 2006 - Last May ABC did a "test run" in which they offered full episodes of new episodes of their series for online streaming, directly from their website, www.abc.com. Following that successful test, the network has announced they will be bringing the program back this fall for their new season, with several high profile returning and new series among the offerings. Once again, the shows will be ad-supported, meaning when you watch them online, embedded, non-skippable commercials will be included, but unlike iTunes, there is no fee to watch the episodes.

Generally, four episodes of each series will be available at any time, with new episodes going online the day after they air. The shows being offered are:

  • Lost
  • Desperate Housewives
  • Grey's Anatomy
  • Six Degrees
  • Ugly Betty
  • The Knights of Prosperity
  • The Nine
Meanwhile, NBC has also revealed they will also be making the first few episodes of all of their new fall shows available on a new streaming format that will be part of their website, www.nbc.com. Like ABC, the NBC shows will also be free, but ad-supported and go up the day after the episodes air. Each NBC episode will be up for a week, until the next episode airs.

The first four episodes of the following series will be available for streaming:

  • 30 Rock
  • Twenty Good Years
The first eight episodes of the following series will be available for streaming:

  • Kidnapped
  • Friday Night Lights
  • Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
  • Heroes
The limited amount of episodes listed as being made available suggests NBC is viewing this as a test, similar to what ABC did in the spring, and that if they are happy with the results, more episodes and series will be made available.

In addition, every NBC series on the fall schedule will feature live premiere blogs on NBC's site from the creators, producers or cast members. Viewers will be encouraged to engage in a dialogue about the episode as soon as the broadcast concludes.

The live premiere blogs will feature the following participants from each show:

  • Deal or No Deal - September 18th - The Banker's Blog
  • Studio 60 - September 18th - Aaron Sorkin, Creator and Executive Producer and Thomas Schlamme, Executive Producer and Director
  • Law & Order: Criminal Intent - September 19th - Warren Leight, Executive Producer
  • Law & Order: SVU - September 19th - Neal Baer, Executive Producer
  • The Biggest Loser - Wednesday, September 20th - Bob Harper, Trainer
  • Kidnapped - September 20th - Jason Smilovic, Creator and Executive Producer
  • My Name Is Earl - September 21st - Greg Garcia, Creator and Executive Producer
  • The Office - September 21st - Greg Daniels, Executive Producer
  • ER - September 21st - John Wells, Creator and Executive Producer and David Zabel, Executive Producer
  • Law & Order - September 22nd - Dick Wolf, Creator and Executive Producer
  • Heroes - September 25th - Tim Kring, Creator and Executive Producer
  • Friday Night Lights - October 3rd - Peter Berg, Creator and Executive Producer
  • 30 Rock - October 11th - Tina Fey, Creator and Executive Producer
  • Twenty Good Years - October 11th - Marsh McCall, Creator and Executive Producer
  • Crossing Jordan - October 20th - Robert Rovner, Executive Producer, Jon Cowan, Executive Producer and Kathy McCormick, Executive Producer
  • Las Vegas - October 20th - Gary Scott Thompson, Creator and Executive Producer