MUMBAI: US broadcaster Fox will stream free episodes of select series on dozens of Internet portals and websites from 22 August.

In this marketing initiative, episodes of Prison Break and Vanished will be available at no charge and commercial-free to viewers across multiple portals and websites, including the network's own Fox.com as well as AOL.com, Google Video, Yahoo!, TVGuide.com and IGN.com, among others.

Fox executive VP, marketing Chris Carlisle says, To launch our two big thrillers - Prison Break and Vanished - both of which have continuing storylines, it is critical to get viewers invested out of the gate. Our strategy supplies as many opportunities as possible for viewers to sample the first few episodes across the Internet. Since the Internet is so communal, we also hope they will immediately buzz about them to their friends on-line."

More than 50 portals and websites will stream the first three episodes of Prison Break and the first three episodes of Vanished, which will be available online as early as the morning following their initial broadcasts on Fox. The episodes will be available for approximately one week.