A series of primetime shows airing on U.S. television networks ABC and NBC are to be made available on the Internet, in the networks’ attempt to approach their viewers on more levels.

ABC struck a deal with AOL to make full-length episodes available for free a week after they initially air, via a co-branded version of ABC.com’s broadband player on AOL video. Under the deal, four episodes per series of shows such as: "The Bachelor," "Big Shots," "Brothers & Sisters," "Carpoolers," "Cavemen," "Dancing with the Stars," "Desperate Housewives," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Eli Stone," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost," "Men In Trees," "October Road," "Private Practice," "Pushing Daisies," "Samantha Who?" and "Ugly Betty" will be available at any given time.

"As we experiment with new ways to grow our digital business, we remain focused on finding smart, new methods to connect viewers to the content they want and brands they love on the platforms they choose," said Disney-ABC Television Group prexy Anne Sweeney.

According to Disney and AOL, the agreement marks the first time that ABC's prime-time programming has been made available on a major online portal and is also the first time a major online portal has offered a full feature version of a broadcast network's online video player.

"With the addition of ABC, AOL Video is the only destination with agreements to offer free streaming primetime programming from all four major networks," said AOL chairman/CEO Randy Falco.

The announcement was made one day after NBC Universal revealed a similar plan Wednesday when they announced that users will be able to download shows for free a week after the broadcast. They will include series such as "Heroes", "The Office" and "Tonight Show with Jay Leno". At present, only Microsoft PCs will be able to stream the programs, though later a special version for Mac users will become available.

"Viewers want to be in control of how, when and where they consume their favorite entertainment," NBC executive Vivi Zigler said in a statement.

"They're overwhelmed to find out people still want to watch their shows," Forrester analyst James McQuivey was quoted by Reuters as saying. "They're crawling over each other to see where else they can put their shows where people spend time."