DISNEY OFFERING TV SHOWS FREE ONLINE.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff writer

BURBANK - Episodes of four ABC prime-time series including "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" will be available free online for two months as part of The Walt Disney Co.'s efforts to expand its digital media business, the company announced Monday.

During all of May and June, episodes of those shows as well "Commander In Chief" and the entire current season of "Alias" can be seen at no charge to the viewer through ABC.com.

Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney said in a statement that the experiment "is just the beginning" of distributing Disney content through multiple platforms. Some of the network's shows, for example, can also currently be downloaded off of the Apple iTunes store for viewing on a video iPod.

"In the future, consumers will rely more and more on strong brands to help them navigate the digital world," said Sweeney, also co-chairwoman of Disney Media Networks.

"Our digital media efforts will help us strengthen our connection with our consumers."

In addition to the prime-time shows, kids can watch such Disney Channel shows as "That's So Raven," "Kim Possible" and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" for free when they log onto DisneyChannel.com.

"Our kids viewers expect to be able to access their favorite shows and stars on a wide variety of devices," said Disney Channel Worldwide President Rich Ross.

Also Monday, Disney announced the April 17 launch of SOAPNETIC, a high-speed 24-hour broadband channel that is something of an extension of Disney's SOAPNet cable channel but allows consumers to watch what they want, when they want.

It will provide coverage of the nine daytime soap operas airing on broadcast television, episodes of SOAPNet's "I Wanna Be A Soap Star III," original programming such as "My Hometown" and "Beyond Soaps," and exclusive soap-related footage that cannot be seen on television.

"We know soap fans are passionate about their soaps and want to connect with content on every platform they interact with be it linear television, broadband, online or video-on-demand," said Ben Pyne, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group.

SOAPNETIC will be immediately accessible to Verizon customers through a high-speed Internet connection. It is the latest in Disney broadband product following in the footsteps of ESPN360, ABC News Now and Disney Connection.

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(color) Anne Sweeney, center, president of Disney ABC Television, gets up from an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, left, at the National Cable Television Association's annual conference in Atlanta on Monday.

John Amis/Associated Press