Disney shifts gears, away from Movies.com and toward Veoh

Disney had attempted to break into the movies-on-demand business with movies.com, and had partnered with Fox, However, the company was unable to make that a reality.

On Monday, the Disney Company -- parent company of ABC Television -- announced that it had sold movie information site movies.com to Comcast, which would then fold the site into its Fandango service. As of today, we noticed Movies.com has already begun to integrate itself into that site; clicking on some links took us to pages on Fandango.

In a statement, Disney said the move is consistent with its restructured strategy in focusing on its core media brands, those being ABC, Disney, and ESPN. In fact, Monday's other news does just that.

The company has struck a deal with Veoh to distribute its content through that video service. Full episodes of hit ABC shows Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Ugly Betty would be included, along with sports highlights and show clips from ESPN.

Such a move seems to suggest that ABC is no longer solely interested in controlling its online media destiny, although it has recently bolstered its movie streaming through an offering where movies would be placed on its site after they are broadcast on ABC television.

ABC currently offers 16 shows on its site, several of which are in high definition. The company did not specify if the Veoh deal would affect this offering, either replacing or complementing it.

It could be possible that ABC may be looking to expand online distribution in a mode similar to CBS -- whose content, it now claims, can be found on more than 300 sites across the Web. Offering the videos on Veoh instead of Hulu -- NBC's and Fox' joint venture -- also would set back that partnership's efforts to expand its content.

Right now, Hulu only offers clips and movies from Fox, NBC, and Universal. While that site has made some overtures to attract the other networks, so far it has been rebuffed.