4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2006
Anne Sweeney, center, president of Disney ABC Television, ends an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, left, at the National Cable Television Association's annual conference in Atlanta, Monday. ABC announced that it would offer some of its hit shows, including "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," for free on the Internet the morning after the episode airs.
John Amis/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABC to offer free online TV shows
BY GARY GENTILE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — ABC will offer four prime-time shows, including "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," on its Web site for free for two months beginning in May as it continues to expand the ways consumers can watch TV online.
The shows will include advertising that cannot be skipped over during viewing. ABC, which is owned by The Walt Disney Co., already offers ad-free episodes for $1.99 each on Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store.
The offerings on the ABC com Web site will also include current episodes of "Commander in Chief," as well as the entire season of "Alias," and will be available through June. New episodes will be available online
the day after they run on ABC.
The shows will be supported by advertisers, including AT&T Inc., Ford Motor Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Unilever PLC, among others.
The experiment comes as networks try to reach viewers who watch less TV in prime-time and are embracing technology that lets them watch on computers and portable devices, such as an iPod.
"It's an opportunity for us to learn more about a different model," Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, said in a panel discussion Monday at the cable industry's annual convention in Atlanta.
"None of us can live in a world of just one business model. This is about the consumer and how the consumers use all this new technology. It's consumer first,
"None of us can
N one of us can live in a world of just one business model. This is about the consumer and how the consumers use all this new technology. It's consumer first, business model second."
Anne Sweeney President of Disney-ABC Television Group
business model second."
ABC is working with advertisers to try new, interactive ads that will appear in the shows and will also offer sponsorships. Viewers will be able to pause the shows and skip to various "chapters," but will not be able to fast forward through the ads.
recently launched in2TV, which streams episodes of classic TV shows with ads.
ABC was the first network to sell TV episodes online. Since then, others, including NBC, CBS and several cable networks, have offered shows on iTunes, their own Web sites and on Google Inc.'s new video store. Time Warner Inc.'s AOL
Sweeney said that ABC would be cautious about other distribution deals, being careful to safeguard against piracy, ensure reliability of the technology, and make sure any deals are compatible with ABC brands. Whether such ventures are supported by marketing is also a concern, she said.
Sweeney said ABC had already rejected several other deals for possible distribution of TV shows, but she declined to say which ones.
NATION
City populations growing with college grads
BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — College graduates are flocking to America's big cities, chasing jobs and culture and driving up home prices.
Though many of the largest cities have lost population in the past three decades, nearly all added college graduates, an analysis by The Associated Press found.
The findings offer hope for urban areas, many of which have spent decades struggling with financial problems, job losses and high poverty rates.
But they spell trouble for some cities, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, that have fallen behind the South and West in attracting educated workers.
"The largest predictor of economic well-being in cities is the percent of college graduates," said Ned Hill, professor of economic development at Cleveland State University. To do well, he said, cities must be attractive to educated people.
Nationally, a little more than one-fourth of people 25 and older had at least bachelor's degrees in 2004. Some 84 percent had high school diplomas or the equivalent.
By comparison, in 1970 only a bit more than one in 10 adults had bachelor's degrees and about half had high school diplomas.
Seattle was the best-educated city in 2004 with just over half the adults having bachelor's degrees. Following closely were San Francisco; Raleigh, N.C.; Washington and Austin, Texas.
Molly Wankel, who has a doctorate in educational administration, said she moved to the Washington area for a job, and the culture of the city pulled her from the suburbs. Wankel, 51, grew up in eastern Tennessee and works at a company that develops software and training materials. She recently bought a home in the city.
"I just enjoy walking around looking at the architecture and the way people have renovated these 100-year-old homes," Wankel said. "I love the landscaping and the lovely mix of many races, straight people, gays, singles, older people, younger people."
The AP analyzed census data from 21 of the largest cities from 1970 to 2004. The AP used every-10-year census data from 1970 to 2000, and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2004.
The 21 cities were chosen because of their size and location to provide regional balance. The analysis was expanded for 2004, the latest year for data, to include all 70 cities with populations of 250,000 or more.
While most states in the Northeast have high percentages of college graduates, their big cities do not.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey were among the top five states in the percentage of adults with college degrees in 2004. But the Northeast placed no city among the top five, and only one from the region, Boston, was in the top 20.