Fox Broadcasting and Apple iTunes are partnering to offer free premiere episodes of seven of Fox’s television programs.
The catch is that the shows will only be free for the premieres and after that users will have to pay to download the programs which reminds me of an old anti-drug commercial where a drug dealer tells a new recruit to give away the drug free the first time and charge them when they come back the second time.
Some of the shows who’s season premieres will be available for free through iTunes include “Prison Break,” “Bones,” “American Dad” and “K-Ville.” As part of the deal, the premiere episode of a program will be available for free for two weeks on the iTunes store.
Fox’s William Bradford, senior vice president of content strategy told the L.A. Times, “We wanted to give our viewers and consumers a new way to discover our content. Snaring marquee space on Apple’s iTunes store should help expose Fox’s shows to a younger and largely affluent audience.”
“Our goals are alike,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, said of the Fox deal. “Fox is interested in selling shows and getting people to watch them on TV. We are helping promote both the buying of shows and watching of TV. If people watch a show on TV, they are more likely to buy a download if they miss an episode.”
NBC and ABC announced similar deal earlier this week. The NBC content can be viewed for free on NBC Direct and ABC content can be viewed on AOL video for free.
Neither Fox or Apple released financial terms of the deal.
