Free ABC TV on the Web

The Wall Street Journal is calling it "a watershed." As TV ad revenues continue to slide, YouTube.com takes off, and the Web is nudging out TV in teen time spent on entertainment, Disney's move could speed up changes in TV consumption even more, the Journal says. "On April 30, ABC will unveil a revamped Web site that will include a 'theater' where people with broadband connections can watch free episodes of … hit shows on their computers … the morning after they air," at which time they'll be archived in ABC's site for anyone to view anytime. "A Disney Channel version with five shows will start in June, and an ABC Family version is also planned." The move probably won't affect ABC's deal with Apple's iTunes because Apple, because ABC's site won't allow users to download the programs to portables like the video iPod. For more on the YouTube phenom (35 million videos viewed daily, 35,000 new videos uploaded daily), see the Associated Press (and "YouTube: The next MySpace," 4/7).