• by August 3, 2007

Discovery Communications today becomes the latest TV programmer to offer free, ad-supported shows online as the season premiere of Animal Planet's "Meerkat Manor" debuts on the Web, a week prior to its cable TV premiere.

Two other shows from Discovery networks--TLC's "LA Ink" and Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs"--will debut online next Wednesday, Aug. 8, a day after their cable premieres.

All three shows will be available via the Web sites of their respective networks, with episodes of additional Discovery Communications series set to be added to the online roster on a regular basis.

At least three spots, up to 30 seconds in length, will run per hour. There will be no pre-roll spot before the episodes, although billboards may appear. The initial advertiser roster consists of nine brands representing six product categories: automotive, CPG, finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and home care.

Discovery is using a broadband player from Move Networks, which also supplies the players used by ABC, CW and Fox TV (on MySpace). While users can pause and move back and forth between episode chapters, the technology makes it impossible to skip or fast-forward through the commercials, since all navigational controls are turned off at that point.

Move Networks, based in Utah, is backed by investors such as Walt Disney Corp.'s Steamboat Ventures and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. The company's technology uses standard HTTP Web servers, not specialized media servers--which it says enables it to provide a continuous, high-quality stream without buffering or stalling.

In a related announcement, Discovery said episodes of "Meerkat Manor," "LA Ink" and "Dirty Jobs" will also be available on its Discovery on Demand service a day after their linear debuts.