Disney Releases Shows Before TV Air Date

In a move aimed at children, the Disney Channel is promoting its new phone and tablet apps by giving away 9 episodes of “Sheriff Callie’s Wild West” online, several months before the show airs on TV. It’s an acceptance of the fact that children specifically live in a world where they’re used to on-demand entertainment service, and expect this sort of delivery from shows. It’s a new paradigm that favors Amazon, Netflix, and other digital services, that cable providers and networks are going to have to contend with, perhaps sooner than later. The next generation of children simply don’t understand – or want to live within – the limits of live television anymore.