NEW YORK — Disney said Monday that it would syndicate ABC and ESPN content through Veoh Networks, which becomes only the second major outside video site to reach a formal free-streaming distribution deal with the conglomerate.
Under terms of the deal, full episodes of “Lost,” “Ugly Betty,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will be available on Veoh through ABC’s video player. A twice-daily shortened “SportsCenter” and clips from “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” “Pardon the Interruption” and “Around the Horn” will be among the ESPN content found on the site.
Veoh joins AOL Video as only the video site to legally distribute free Disney content online, outside of the company’s own sites, ABC’s affiliate sites and Cox.net. The Time Warner-owned AOL announced its deal to distribute full episodes of primetime ABC shows last September with the ESPN partnership coming in April.
Disney has a partnership with Facebook, as well, that allows users of the social network to launch the player and view episodes from that site.
Veoh, which is led by founder and chief innovation officer Dmitry Shapiro and CEO Steve Mitgang, counts former Viacom exces Tom Freston and Jonathan Dolgen and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who also sits on the company’s board, as some of its investors. Veoh also is part of the CBS Audience Network and it has deals with MTV Networks, PBS and Lionsgate.
