By the time Fox introduces the soapy new drama 'Lone Star' on television this fall, some Vanity Fair readers, cruise line passengers, hotel guests and iPad owners will have had a chance to watch it. The network said it wants the show to be sampled far and wide, so it is giving away the first full episode through partnerships with illustrious brands like Vanity Fair, a publication of Conde Nast. 'The best way to market 'Lone Star' is to have it seen,' said Joe Earley, who has overseen Fox's marketing campaigns for years and who was promoted to president of marketing and communications last month. 'Our goal this fall, much as we did with 'Glee' last year, is to have it seen by as many people as possible.' Fox's plan builds on the sampling strategies employed in past years. Years ago Fox and other networks started to put previews of shows on DVDs and distributed them at venues like Blockbuster, though they generally did not release entire episodes. More recently, the networks started to stream previews on the Internet. With the advent of online sneak peeks, some networks fretted that previewing a series before its official premiere date would cannibalize the all-important television audience that is measured by Nielsen. But when no evidence of cannibalization emerged, those fears subsided. Advance screenings are now somewhat common; last fall NBC previewed the college sitcom 'Community' on Facebook weeks before its debut on television, and all this summer AMC streamed the first episode of the thriller 'Rubicon' on its website ahead of its splashy two-hour premiere next Sunday. (END OPTIONAL TRIM.) Fox sought ways to make the 'Lone Star' sneak previews feel special, an 'exclusive experience,' as Earley put it. That idea was equally important to Edward Menicheschi, the vice president and publisher of Vanity Fair, as the two companies devised a plan to insert DVDs of 'Lone Star' in some copies of the magazine. 'Being culturally first is at the center of everything we do,' he said. Vanity Fair will also stream 'Lone Star' through its iPad app. Every summer and fall the networks try to top one another with elaborate marketing stunts and promotions. The networks always want bragging rights about being first to try a particular promotion; last year, CBS may have taken the top prize when it inserted a paper-thin video player with short clips of new shows in some copies of Entertainment Weekly. Fox is calling the 'Lone Star' preview the first time that a television episode has had its premiere on the iPad or iPhone. The series, which is set in Texas and is sometimes compared to 'Dallas,' is about a man who is secretly leading two lives. In Houston, Bob Allen is ingratiating himself with his wife's oil-rich family. In Midland, where Bob goes by the name Robert Allen, he is bilking local investors and deceiving his girlfriend. And yet, he can seem sympathetic to the viewers. 'You want him to have both women,' Earley said. 'You want him to succeed in both worlds.' But try explaining that to a skeptical nonviewer. 'You have to watch it to feel it,' he said. That insight was the basis for the sampling strategy that will begin in August for the show, which is a cornerstone of the fall schedule that Fox will promote next week at a presentation for television critics in Los Angeles. 'Lone Star' will have its premiere on Fox on Sept. 20. For Vanity Fair, the show felt like a good fit. 'I don't know that you think about these brands in the same breath normally,' Menicheschi said, referring to Fox and his magazine. 'But, in this instance, it just makes a tremendous amount of sense.' Earley said the 'Lone Star' plot is the 'kind of story you might actually read in Vanity Fair.' DVDs of the first episode will be inserted in subscriber copies of Vanity Fair's October issue in New York and Los Angeles and in newsstand copies in the New York area, reaching about 400,000 readers, Menicheschi said. It is hard to say how many people the iPad edition will reach, given that Vanity Fair started publishing on the device two months ago. Like other magazines, it is experimenting with video features and video ads. In a bit of cross-pollination between Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox, both units of News Corp., the DVD will include a trailer for the film 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.' Fox is also buying traditional print ads in all October copies of Vanity Fair. Menicheschi called the package deal a 'significant investment' but declined to comment further. Earley said the deal was 'well worth it, in terms of the quality of the association and in terms of the tastemakers that we should be reaching.' In addition to Vanity Fair, the show's first episode will be screened on the Hotel Network, which is accessible in hotel rooms at well-known chains like Starwood and Ritz-Carlton; on an internal network operated by Princess Cruises; and on some Virgin America, Delta and JetBlue flights. In addition, 19 Fox-affiliated stations in Texas will host screenings of the series that will be open to the public. 'These all add up,' Earley said. 