Controversial adware firm 180solutions's Zango.com site has been offering streams of two Warner Bros online-only shows - the (appropriately named) soap opera "Deception" and animated show "Medical Island" - and will soon offer a third show, reports MediaPost. Visitors can view the shows only if they agree to download pop-up ad-serving software, which serves up to six behaviorally targeted ads a day.

Apparently, Warner Bros. and 180solutions have been working together for almost a year, largely in the gaming space, but have kept the relationship secret. 180solutions says the professionally created video clips are an attempt to offer consumers more valuable incentives to download adware.

The news of the Zango deal has surfaces at a time when 180solutions has been under attack; the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the firm's affiliates install its adware on computers without first obtaining informed consent. The company also faces a class-action lawsuit.

Prior coverage:

- Direct Revenue Adware Shenanigans, Indirect Yahoo Funding Revealed
- DirectRevenue Settles Class Action, to Pay $300,000
- AzoogleAds Won't Work with 180solutions, Direct Revenue
- 'Download Disasters' Found in WhenU, 180solutions Bundles
- Watchdog Asks FTC to Tackle Adware Firm
- 180solutions Lays Off 20 Percent of Workforce
- 180Solutions Sued for 'Deceptive' Adware Distribution
- 180solutions Sues Adware Distributors
- 180solutions Pop-ups to Notify Users of Installed Adware
- Webroot: Downloads of Adware, including Claria's, Decline
- Anti-Spyware Group Dies of Self-Inflicted Wounds
- Anti-Spyware Group Splits on Strategy
- 180Solutions Buys Easy Message for Adware Play
- 180solutions Fighting Affiliate 'Crammers' that Turn Adware to Spyware
- Adware Firm Gets into Gaming