Disney to widen online TV shows

Disney are going to release more television show to more sites for downloading over the internet.

The company has already sold more than 1.5 million episodes of shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives via online iTunes stores to US households. Disney now want to offer the shows through more outlets and be more "platform agnostic", according to reports.

"Other companies with on-demand products will feature some of our content in the near future," said Disney chief financial officer Tom Staggs.

He said that while online sales were not yet a factor driving profits they remained "an important catalyst for where the business is going".

While these downloadable episodes have only been available to customers living in the US, the BBC is currently trialling a service to offer TV programmes online for up to seven days after they have broadcast.