Disney to Preview ABC Shows in Movie Theaters to Build Viewers
January 11, 2012, 4:13 PM ESTBy Ronald Grover and Andy Fixmer
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network will promote its new series “The River” by showing two full episodes in movie theaters in a bid to lift ratings for the second-place network.
“We love the idea and we think that the benefits of making the show available to more viewers outweigh the impact it might have on ratings for the show,” Paul Lee, president of ABC Entertainment, said in an interview at a conference of TV critics today in Pasadena, California.
ABC, which lags behind CBS in prime-time ratings, previously showed full episodes of “Modern Family” and “Last Man Standing” on the ABC.com website, Lee said. Initial viewer numbers for those shows grew beyond the network’s projections, he said.
The theatrical release will start in Los Angeles on Jan. 18, according to ABC. Later this month the episodes will appear in cinemas in New York, Philadelphia and Austin, Texas.
“The River” is a one-hour drama that follows the story of a wildlife expert who mysteriously goes missing while filming a television show in the Amazon. His family and friends search for him.
The show, from ABC Studios and Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Television, is scheduled to begin airing on the network starting Feb. 7.
Disney, based in Burbank, California, fell 0.3 percent to $39.63 at 1:58 p.m. in New York trading.
--Editors: Niamh Ring, James Callan
To contact the reporters on this story: Ronald Grover in Los Angeles at rgrover5@bloomberg.net; Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net
