NBC, CBS to offer shows for 99 cents
this CNN/Money Article reports that NBC and CBS may start offering 99cent downloads of primetime shows the day after they are broadcast. What I find intriguing about this is that rather than go through a computer/ipod medium, they are going to start making the shows available like video on demand/pay per view.
The shows will be without commericals and viewable on the video device that really matters: television sets. (Apple are you reading this?) So if I see this big picture properly, I would be able to see the show for 99cents on a television. NBC will be allowing people with the DirectTV PVRs to record the shows too. Isn't this close to the model all of us hoped Apple would come out with?
Bottom line: I will not purchase video that can't be put onto media that is playable in my DVD player. I will not buy video that gets pixelated when viewed on a television. I will not buy a second mac just to keep next to my TV. I am more intrigued by these potential offerings from NBC and CBS as they seem to have the right idea for what the market really wants.
The shows will be without commericals and viewable on the video device that really matters: television sets. (Apple are you reading this?) So if I see this big picture properly, I would be able to see the show for 99cents on a television. NBC will be allowing people with the DirectTV PVRs to record the shows too. Isn't this close to the model all of us hoped Apple would come out with?
Bottom line: I will not purchase video that can't be put onto media that is playable in my DVD player. I will not buy video that gets pixelated when viewed on a television. I will not buy a second mac just to keep next to my TV. I am more intrigued by these potential offerings from NBC and CBS as they seem to have the right idea for what the market really wants.
Comments
Like it or not, Apple's options through the iTunes Music Store give consumers much more options and don't lock people into having one service over another. NBC and CBS are pulling out the old self-centered business model: What's "best" for our company? The answer: Opening up your product to as many people as possible.
Originally posted by CosmoNut
The CBS and NBC services will fail miserably. They are too limited and proprietary. What if you are a CSI fan with DirectTV? What if you're a Law and Order fan with Comcast? What if you have TiVo, Dish Network, Time Warner Digital Cable, analog cable, etc.? What if you're a mass transit commuter with little time to sit in front of a television? By the way, if you have a PVR and you really want to watch these shows, won't you record them for FREE when they air?
Like it or not, Apple's options through the iTunes Music Store give consumers much more options and don't lock people into having one service over another. NBC and CBS are pulling out the old self-centered business model: What's "best" for our company? The answer: Opening up your product to as many people as possible.
The one thing that Apple has going for it in this regard is the huge installed base of iPod users. But as others have pointed out in various forums, the proverbial Achilies Heel of the iPod/iTunes/Mac axis is the lack of connection to home entertainment systems.
I hope that Apple has something in the works to integrate my home wireless network, my computer and my home entertainment system. But for now I can only dream about being able to use a Front Row-like application on a 60 inch plasma to watch/listen to media, wirelessly, from my computer upstairs.
I don't mean to say that NBC and CBS are going see tremendous success with their systems, only that I think their proposed systems are more in tune with how customers want their video: on their TV.
The only people who will buy these programs are the ones who forgot to program the DVR AND subscribe to the appropriate cable/satellite service. How is that a good business model?
Cable company: umbrella interface and pay structure for everything on television. iTunes: umbrella interface and pay structure for music downloads.
Do people go to the respective record company sites to get music? Of course not-- to many obstacles to navigate, especially when "one stop shopping" is available.
I don't know if the iTMS is going to end up being the powerhouse of video downloads that it has proven to be for music, but that powerhouse sure isn't going to be the respective television studios, although God knows they'll try to hang onto the idea that they can be "players" in the online content game for as long as possible.
Apple has hit a sweet spot with coming up with a way to put this programming on your computer and iPod. That makes some sense.
Originally posted by CosmoNut
What everyone needs to be painfully clear about is that these DVRs are already recording whatever the user wants when the shows are broadcasted! To make this new business model work, Comcast, DirecTV and every other distributor are going to have to kill the DVR functionality that already exists and people already pay(ed) for. If they don't, they will ALWAYS get piss-poor sales of next-day program downloads.
This is precisely why Apple will NEVER release a DVR function in iTunes. $teve is always thinking.
To repeat, more on topic. Why can't apple just buy each track from CBS, etc then convert it into h.264 and release it on itms for 1.00?
Originally posted by TednDi
Ok, sorry for a double post.
To repeat, more on topic. Why can't apple just buy each track from CBS, etc then convert it into h.264 and release it on itms for 1.00?
nbc, cbs wants it all and wants to feed it's arogance
I reiterate, why can't apple buy the tracks convert them and then sell them for
$0.01 more using itms?
hmmm?
T
Originally posted by TednDi
I reiterate, why can't apple buy the tracks convert them and then sell them for
$0.01 more using itms?
That whole pesky issue of copyright infringement might have something to do with it.
Even if that weren't an issue, that penny per track wouldn't cover Apple's costs to do it.
Originally posted by CosmoNut
That whole pesky issue of copyright infringement might have something to do with it.
Even if that weren't an issue, that penny per track wouldn't cover Apple's costs to do it.
Why would it be a copyright infringement if apple bought each track from cbs at the .99 price point. CBS is getting all of its money for its product at it's chosen price point.
Apple's mark up is irrelevant. If I buy a physical cd like amazon does and then sell the cd to you for an amount greater than I paid why is this a copyright infringement?
seriously?