Disney's move to experiment with streaming some of its most popular television programmes free online is a bold foray for its broadcasting subsidiary ABC.
But it is still far from being the ultimate answer to how broadcasters - and online players such as MSN and AOL - can make money from the new multimedia consuming public, if industry reaction is anything to go by.
The UK has traditionally trailed the US in terms of broadband uptake and, to an extent, adoption of new technology. So it makes sense that ABC would need to make a move like this - offering quality prime time shows for free with advertising pre-integrated in a downloadable format - in America before a similar service comes to the UK.
However, in the last 18 months broadband penetration in Britain has skyrocketed, bandwidth is no longer an issue, and consumers have latched onto new technology products such as Sky+ and Xbox Online. On-demand programming is now a viable reality.
Take the BBC, with its public service remit and bags of funding, and its freedom from taking advertiser concerns on board. The corporation is going down a slightly different route with its "MyBBCPlayer" (or Integrated Media Player), which has already been trialled and offers licence fee payers a seven-day window to download and watch BBC shows they missed on TV.
A BBC spokesman said that while there were "certain similarities" between ABC's tentative trials and the corporation's own iMP, the BBC's offering will consist of 500 to 600 programmes at any one time.
But Nat Swift, the associate director of international strategic insight at the media agency MediaCom UK, believes the ABC free video streaming trial will be the first of many such initiatives, as broadcasters experiment with ways of making money out of digital media.
"Eventually we will see a lot of this type of ABC announcement here as it is about going beyond what is on a specific television channel and more about letting consumers access what they want, when they want, where they want," Mr Swift said.
He said he believes that the models being trialled - ABC is also testing a service where consumers pay a small fee to receive an ad-free programme the day after initial airing - are necessary to find an equilibrium that consumers, and advertisers, will accept.
"The integration of the advertising [in the programme downloads] is an excellent idea but the question is how much the advertisers are being charged for this.
"In theory, with a measurable number of downloads, measuring exposure is more accountable [than TV] and perhaps instead of the traditional rate card television ad model, advertisers might end up paying-per-viewer similar to pay-per-click online advertising," he added.
UK broadcasters and online media owners alike are themselves trialling a number of products. For example, Telewest has recently launched its Teleport service offering video on demand for around £2.50 a rental, a free seven-day catch-up service - so far mainly featuring BBC shows - and a limited "auto-record" service of selected programmes.
Last week Channel 4 launched a trial of the first delivery of a full-length edition of a TV soap to mobile phones with Hollyoaks.
And web giants such as MSN and AOL are also looking to move beyond the low-hanging fruit provided by music downloads, which has been the most notable content success online so far.
"The question for online companies like AOL, Yahoo and MSN, is content," said Jonathan Lambeth, the director of communications at AOL UK.
"There isn't enough of it. Music has been a winner but beyond that content, and the business models to support it, are still being worked out."
In January, AOL UK launched a video rental download service, through a deal with Warner and LoveFilm. New titles can be downloaded to PCs for £2.99 and must be watched within five to seven days.
This was followed with a download-to-own service - similar to the much-publicised Universal Pictures King Kong video on demand service - offering a burned DVD, a digital copy for viewing on a PC and a copy for use on portable devices of each title purchased, for £19.99.
In the US, AOL has a product called In2TV, featuring classic programmes such as Kung Fu, which provides advertisers with instream broadband ads as well as opportunities for sponsorships and accompanying banner promotion.
Ads are limited to one-to-two minutes within each 30-minute streamed episode - a figure AOL said compares with eight minutes of advertising in a regular half-hour show broadcast by a US TV network. But AOL UK said it has no immediate plans to launch an In2TV service here.
AOL's Rival MSN launched its own MSN Video Player service in the UK just two months ago. Currently, it only plays short-format content such as news clips from ITN and fashion pieces from the likes of Condé Naste.
Ads are streamed into the Video Player feed and have interactivity that allows linking to promotions and product purchases.
However, this is all just the tip of the iceberg. "Ofcom regulations are changing around the online rights for content producers and this will give non-broadcast portals opportunities we haven't seen before to build our own services," said Matt Whittingham, the head of information services at MSN UK.
"Currently broadcasters get all rights including digital-usage for programming, however the new regulations are looking at primary and secondary windows where digital rights will be split out after a period of first-usage time."
In the move to provide films and TV online, trials like Disney's symbolise positive action to find a balance between consumer viewing demands and the need for media firms to generate revenue.
"This deal does not mark the beginning of the death of broadcast television," Mr Swift said. "It should be seen as a new lease of life, it is now about working out how to make new consumer consumption habits work for broadcasters."
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