FreeFi Networks today announced a partnership with Disney-ABC Domestic Television to provide video-on-demand (VOD) rentals to users of FreeFi's free Wi-Fi network at Denver International Airport (DIA).

The rentals are cached locally, making it possible for users to download them quickly to their laptops, iPhones, etc. before boarding a flight.

Wi-Fi Net News' Glenn Fleishman is enthusiastic. "I have been writing for years about the power of the edge network, where instead of providing an Internet feed, media resides locally and can be moved at many times the potential Internet rate," he writes. "This is the first substantial deployment in any form that I'm aware of."

And according to FreeFi, the free offering has been a boon for DIA, with usage now between 4,000 and 5,000 daily connections - as opposed to about 600 daily connections for the airport's previous $7.95-a-day Wi-Fi offering.

"Usage increased by a factor of 10 times during the first four weeks this service was available," says DIA director of telecommunications Jim Winston. "Our motivation for moving to the FreeFi Networks approach is to deliver a high quality Internet experience to our airport customers, as we continue to provide necessary revenue to the city to satisfy the bondholders that financed the building."

FreeFi says it plans to make similar announcements about deployments at other U.S. airports within the next few months.

More here from the Denver Business Journal ... and the press release is here.