ABC is the only TV network so far to offer an application for watching its shows free — with ads, naturally — on the iPad, and it says its business model is proving successful, according to the “Wall Street Journal” (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/04/13/abc-sees-success-in-ipad-app/).

The network said that in the 10 days since the iPad’s debut, its TV-show watching app has been downloaded 205,000 times, giving the Walt Disney unit a presence on nearly half the 450,000 devices that Apple says it has sold. What’s more, users have watched at least part of 650,000 television episodes using the app, generating “several million” ad impressions, an ABC spokesman told the “Journal.” Disney-ABC television President Anne Sweeney says the network is pleased with the initial results.