Cable operator Comcast Corp. on Thursday said it will sell popular NBC television shows, such as “Law & Order” and “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” through its video-on-demand service starting in May.

The deal makes available top prime-time and late night programs from the NBC broadcast network, as well as popular shows from NBC Universal’s USA, Bravo and Sci-Fi cable channels.

NBC’s prime-time programs will be available to Comcast digital cable subscribers as early as the midnight following broadcast for 99 cents each, the companies said. Late night, daytime and cable shows will be available for no additional charge.

Comcast offers more than 7,000 on-demand programs per month, a response to the changing habits of consumer interested in scheduling their own television viewing rather than watching programs according to times set by the networks.

The No. 1 cable operator in the United States reached an agreement early this year with CBS Corp. to offer its programing on-demand.

The company hopes to soon sign on the remaining top U.S. broadcast networks, its chief operating officer said.

“I think in fairly short order we’ll have ABC and Fox,” Stephen Burke told investors at a Bank of America media conference in New York.

Officials at ABC, part of the Walt Disney Co., could not immediately be reached and a spokesman for News Corp.’s Fox declined to comment.

U.S. broadcast television networks have also been changing aspects of their business models to meet the challenge posed by digital video recorders and the Internet.

General Electric Co.-controlled NBC and its rivals sell episodes of their hit shows to be viewed on the popular iPod digital video and music device.

Comcast rival Time Warner Cable, part of Time Warner Inc., said earlier this week it was in talks with the four top U.S. networks to create a “Hits channel” with on-demand access to their most popular shows.

Comcast shares were up 8 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $26.58 in afternoon Nasdaq trade. General Electric shares were up 70 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $34.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.