U.S. television networks ABC and NBC plan to make their programs more widely available on the Internet, accelerating a strategy to court viewers wherever they spend time, Reuters reports.

"Walt Disney Co's ABC TV Group, the first of the major networks to offer its top shows for free viewing on its own Web site last year, said on Thursday its shows will now also be available for the first time on a third-party Web property, Time Warner Inc's AOL."

This comes immediately after NBC Universal's announcement of a new service and portal that makes NBC shows available for free download to PCs and other devices.

Taken together, "these moves, including NBC and News Corp's upcoming online video joint venture Hulu, appear to be an acknowledgment that consumers—not networks—now have more control over their programming schedules," the Reuters report said.

We'll see how much of this eventually extends to mobile devices. One thing is certain: the networks won't want to pass up additional mobile advertising opportunities. Delivering this content and attendant higher level of consumer control on the go is the obvious next step.

ABC, NBC Accelerate TV-on-the-Web Moves [Reuters via PC Magazine]