On an average US shows are not broadcast in Europe for three to six months. However, beginning October, visitors to the Nelonen website will be able to stream recent episodes of popular series Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost in subtitled formats, within a few days of their being screened in the US.

Each episode will cost about 3 euros ($4.2) for watching and the price will include watching it up to ten times during a 24-hour period from the moment of purchase.

Nelonen channel director Pirjo Airaksinen said the idea is for the company to see how the public responds to the idea of paying for new material.

"We and Disney have a learning perspective here. Finnish people easily take up new technologies. As a relatively small, homogeneous market, Finland is a good test bed for consumer behavior," he said.

If pay-per-view does not take off, Airaksinen said that it would make the same arrangement later for free, but with commercials such that the advertiser pays for the service.

Nelonen, part of the SanomaWSOY media group, currently reaches an estimated 2.1 million viewers in Finland.