NBC Universal and Apple today announced a lineup of new primetime, cable, late-night and classic TV shows, including primetime hits such as "Law & Order" and late-night favorites such as sketches from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on the iTunes Music Store.
Apple also announced that customers have purchased and downloaded more than three million videos since their debut on October 12, making the iTunes Music Store the world's most popular video download store.
With the additions today, iTunes now offers more than 300 episodes of 16 popular TV shows. NBC Universal programming now available on the iTunes Music Store spans from the 1950s to the present, including NBC's "Law & Order," "The Office," "Surface," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," the USA Network's Emmy Award-winning "Monk" and Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" as well as classic TV shows including "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Dragnet," "Adam-12" and "Knight Rider," on the iTunes Music Store beginning today.
Customers can purchase and download their favorite shows, including current shows the day after they air on TV, and watch them on their computer or iPod. The NBC Universal programs will be available in newly designated areas of the iTunes Music Store featuring the NBC Universal brands, including the NBC network, Sci-Fi Channel and the USA Network, Apple said.
"We're thrilled to expand the iTunes video catalog with 11 popular TV shows from NBC, USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "In our first two months we've sold more than three million videos, and have expanded our TV catalog from five shows to 16 shows."
"We are committed to helping viewers enjoy the wide breadth of our programs across an equally wide range of devices and distribution models," said Bob Wright, vice chairman of GE and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal. "Apple has developed a distribution platform that is attractive to consumers while at the same time providing the safeguards against theft that are so important to us and to every content provider. We are pleased to partner with them in this new venture."
Television shows are available in the US only, and video availability varies by country. Television shows are $1.99 per episode, and music videos and short films are $1.99 each.
It doesn't make any sense. I for one wouldn't buy a clip from the tonight show for 1.99 when I know that i can get almost an hour of another show for the same price.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
I think this is fantastic in the way that finally this content is available online, but it is far too expensive.
In the same way that Music is in my opinion still too expensive.
But they are 2 arguments and my argument for TV being free is: It actually can be on a economical basis that is proven.
You know how you always have these small icons of the Channel your watching somewhere on the screen and your looking at it all the time?
Or sometimes you even have animated commercials of the shows coming up at the bottom of the screen or even all over the screen during the show?
So instead: The shows distributed on iTunes for example or some other service build on BitTorrent could make all these shows available free for download with commercials of the kind I mentioned. E.g. CocaCola everybody would be looking at the sign all the time and it would burn itself into our minds for the companies its the best commercial ever. Kinda sucks still for the viewer because now we are all drinking coke instead of Orange Juice but at least we got our TV content free on your iPods, PSPs, Macs, computers and othe rconsumer devices. Oh and NO DRM!!! Because why would you want it? The more people watch it the better for the advertiser CocaCola in this case
I agree with the above poster about how the same price model doesn't make sense, but I generally only see myself buying the full length TV shows anyway.
But, I am thrilled that they have added BattleStar Galactica to their lineup. I was basically keeping my standard cable ($42 per month) around solely to watch it. Now, I can downgrade to basic ($8 per moth) and buy the 4 shows they show a month ($7.96 per month). There are a couple other shows I will miss, but the other shows aren't worth the extra $24 it would cost.
It doesn't make any sense. I for one wouldn't buy a clip from the tonight show for 1.99 when I know that i can get almost an hour of another show for the same price.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
i hope that apple sort this out in MWSF06
Why would you assume that a per minute pricing model makes sense. At iTMS you pay $0.99 for a song whether it is 2:30 or 5:30.
The price doesn't have to have anything to do with the length of the content.
Such a pricing approach assumes two equally interchangeable commodities. Entertainment content isn't like that at all.
It doesn't make any sense. I for one wouldn't buy a clip from the tonight show for 1.99 when I know that i can get almost an hour of another show for the same price.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
i hope that apple sort this out in MWSF06
well, apple wants absolutely no overhead of trying to manage and maintain a tiered pricing plan. simply put, when everything is the same price, it makes managing sales IMMENSELY easier, which translates into less time managing the sales transactions which equals more profit. it's up to the media provider to decide what is feasibly WORTH the $2 it will be priced at.
so, in general, the music video pricing still makes sense to me, because you are likely to watch it much more often than the same episode of a tv show. plus, as was said before, music companies are ecstatic that they will actually get some sort of profit off of these expensive ads that were produced, essentially, to sell songs. imagine if super bowl commercials could be sold AS AN ENTITY UNTO THEMSELVES, in addition to pushing sales for somethign else. hell, companies would be falling over themselves to recoup some of those costs. ANY of those costs.
but i think nbc isn't going to sell many 6-minute tonight show segments... which means they will either increase the length of time for the segment for sale, or pull it altogether and try something else.
well, apple wants absolutely no overhead of trying to manage and maintain a tiered pricing plan. simply put, when everything is the same price, it makes managing sales IMMENSELY easier, which translates into less time managing the sales transactions which equals more profit. it's up to the media provider to decide what is feasibly WORTH the $2 it will be priced at.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, NBC thinks it needs to position Leno as a premium product, hence the high cost per minute.
I'm surprised at the lack of SNL. That's the one show I would buy since I'm hardly ever home on saturday nights.
As far as pricing, I have to say that $2 for 5 minutes of Leno headlines is hardly worth it. Either make the full episode available for $2 or sell the segments for $.99. I also find it interesting that they have Conan's 10th anniversary special for $9.99. Is this setting the standard for full movies?
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
They do. It is not exactly what you want, but you can get the whole first season of Lost (25 episodes) for $34.99. It is not a dollar per episode, but it is less than $1.99.
But then, you can buy it on DVD from Amazon for $38. I don't know if it is really worth paying this much for the iTMS videos, given its lower quality and more restricted access when compared to DVDs
i think nbc isn't going to sell many 6-minute tonight show segments...
yeah ok, I get what you mean, but I think it was the comment above that was the reason I got a bit tee'd off.
The Tonight Show is a popular 30 minute TV show based around small news sketches - in a similar way that The Day Today (excuse me if I'm wrong - its only just started broadcasting in the UK, and I haven't really watched it)
So why would anyone pay 1.99 for a small segment of this programme when you can get another programme at full length. it just seems wrong, and frankly a bit cheeky by the media company
Quote:
it's up to the media provider to decide what is feasibly WORTH the $2 it will be priced at.
Agreed, and this does bring an interesting factor into this new media on ITMS - its hardly as if record companies ask musicians to write shorter songs so that they can gain more profit form the recording time/costs.
Hopefully there will be no more TV Shows on ITMS in 'The Tonight Show' manner...
Interestingly I just looked up Lost on amazon.com to get some US price comparisons with iTunes - I had always thought that ITMS seemed rather expensive - 1.99 a show seems a lot of cash, but considering that the full series 1 DVD normally retails at 60 dollars, it seems slightly better - and hell I found Lost PSP Disc with 2 episodes on it for 17.99, which frankly seems absurd. Maybe ITMS isn';t that bad after all...
slightly of topic now
I suspect that I still have problems with the whole DRM'd media. I've only bought a handleful of cd's on iTunes and prefer actually owning a piece of plastic with a nicely designed booklet than buying a song that's all 1's and 0's and no physical dimensions.
I also find it strange that people are willing to pay for a video that is only 320x240 in size, a quarter of NTSC and less that of PAL. If 2005 is the year of HD, then surely Apple have to start shipping at least NTSC/PAL sized broadcasts soon, with smaller options for iPods. I do realise that network infrastructure does have a lot to do with this - NTSC/PAL downloads would be very large - it just seems silly to do this when the ONLY place you can really watch these if you care about image quality is your iPod - Why bother creating an iPod that has TV-Out when there's no real point in playing any of the videos on a TV?
Now if they would only offer Comedy Central's Daily Show and NBC's West Wing as well. Those are the only two shows I watch, and I am more than willing to pay 1.99 for each episode and avoid commercial breaks every 10 minutes. Not to mention being able to watch it when I want, not when the TV stations think it's a good time for me...
This is doomed to be big. Hopefully they will be able to offer HD version later on as bandwith becomes cheaper and more readily available. I don't really care about the iPod Video, but I'm so ripe to buy that iMac mini intel DVR thing next year!
Seems like Microsoft, Sony, TiVo and all the others are loosing out big time here. Apple has now the perfect infrastructure to roll out whatever home entertainment products they want to, be it a iMac mini with Front Row or any box you can connect to your TV...
But then, you can buy it on DVD from Amazon for $38. I don't know if it is really worth paying this much for the iTMS videos, given its lower quality and more restricted access when compared to DVDs
I heartily agree - but that is discounted, so its hard to compare - the SRP is $60 after all. I personally wouldn't purchase an episode for 1.99 when its 320x240 in resolution. I would purchase it for 1.99 if I could watch it on tv at SD quality, and have the option to downsize it for my iPod, this would make much more sense - freedom for the user.
So why would anyone pay 1.99 for a small segment of this programme when you can get another programme at full length. it just seems wrong, and frankly a bit cheeky by the media company
But two programs are rarely directly interchangeable. That is the issue. For example...I wouldn't pay a dime for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Bosom Buddies" but I might pay the $1.99 for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Seinfeld".
You are trying to apply quantitative measurements to what is largely a qualitative comparison.
If we are talking about something like oil, sugar, wheat, etc. (and even these have different grades) then a "per unit" pricing makes sense.
The only comparison that really makes sense here is the following...what options do I have to get the program:
1. Broadcast TV (includes commercials, only runs once, must be there or record it myself)...free (no direct out of pocket expense)
2. DVD (no commercials, must get whole season, must go to store...well maybe Amazon...must wait for it...higher quality...fewer usage limitations)...$30 for 20 episodes.
3. Apple (no commercials, lower resolution, limited usage, can buy "singles", don't have to leave my house, can get them nearly immediately)...$1.99/each.
Jobs has said that this whole thing is an experiment. So far, sales have gone way past expectations. That means that many people don't agree with what's being said here. At least so far.
Secondly, being that this whole thing is so new, they don't know what will work. So the content providers themselves are experimenting.
Don't forget that the whole iPod and iTunes thing became a much bigger business than Jobs and the music industry ever thought it would be.
As more providers come on board, and now it's obvious that they will, it will sort itself out like any other product line.
Some things will sell real well, and some won't sell much at all.
I expect that it will take a year for this to find its way. That would include a second generation player better suited to video, and hopefully, higher rez content.
I also expect to see providers of classic films that sell on DVD for $10 or less, the ones that have trouble getting shelf space in the stores, to appear. The good thing about iTunes is that everyone is about equal.
But two programs are rarely directly interchangeable. That is the issue. For example...I wouldn't pay a dime for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Bosom Buddies" but I might pay the $1.99 for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Seinfeld".
You are trying to apply quantitative measurements to what is largely a qualitative comparison.
If we are talking about something like oil, sugar, wheat, etc. (and even these have different grades) then a "per unit" pricing makes sense.
The only comparison that really makes sense here is the following...what options do I have to get the program:
1. Broadcast TV (includes commercials, only runs once, must be there or record it myself)...free (no direct out of pocket expense)
2. DVD (no commercials, must get whole season, must go to store...well maybe Amazon...must wait for it...higher quality...fewer usage limitations)...$30 for 20 episodes.
3. Apple (no commercials, lower resolution, limited usage, can buy "singles", don't have to leave my house, can get them nearly immediately)...$1.99/each.
Also, most people who complain about the 320 x 240 have never seen this on a tv. Tv resolution is not 720 x 480, it's 330 x 480 - if you have a good tuner. That's because tuners don't pass more that 330 lines horiz rez. Most barely get 300.
You MIGHT get better through cable, but probably not. Satellite can be even worse, with all the compression they often add.
I suggest that people actually see this content viewed on a tv, at normal seating distance before they knock it.
Most people don't have a tv that's capable of higher resolution even when bypassing the tuner.
85% of all tv's sold in the US this year, and about that abroad, are medium or smaller size crt models. All the back and front projection, LCD, and plasma sets compromised the other 15%.
Comments
Apple also announced that customers have purchased and downloaded more than three million videos since their debut on October 12, making the iTunes Music Store the world's most popular video download store.
With the additions today, iTunes now offers more than 300 episodes of 16 popular TV shows. NBC Universal programming now available on the iTunes Music Store spans from the 1950s to the present, including NBC's "Law & Order," "The Office," "Surface," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," the USA Network's Emmy Award-winning "Monk" and Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" as well as classic TV shows including "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Dragnet," "Adam-12" and "Knight Rider," on the iTunes Music Store beginning today.
Customers can purchase and download their favorite shows, including current shows the day after they air on TV, and watch them on their computer or iPod. The NBC Universal programs will be available in newly designated areas of the iTunes Music Store featuring the NBC Universal brands, including the NBC network, Sci-Fi Channel and the USA Network, Apple said.
"We're thrilled to expand the iTunes video catalog with 11 popular TV shows from NBC, USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "In our first two months we've sold more than three million videos, and have expanded our TV catalog from five shows to 16 shows."
"We are committed to helping viewers enjoy the wide breadth of our programs across an equally wide range of devices and distribution models," said Bob Wright, vice chairman of GE and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal. "Apple has developed a distribution platform that is attractive to consumers while at the same time providing the safeguards against theft that are so important to us and to every content provider. We are pleased to partner with them in this new venture."
Television shows are available in the US only, and video availability varies by country. Television shows are $1.99 per episode, and music videos and short films are $1.99 each.
for $1.99 you can get one of the following
4 minute music video
6 minutes of the Tonight Show
8 minute Pixar short
23 minutes of the Suite Life
43 minutes of Lost
57 of Battlestar Galactica
It doesn't make any sense. I for one wouldn't buy a clip from the tonight show for 1.99 when I know that i can get almost an hour of another show for the same price.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
i hope that apple sort this out in MWSF06
In the same way that Music is in my opinion still too expensive.
But they are 2 arguments and my argument for TV being free is: It actually can be on a economical basis that is proven.
You know how you always have these small icons of the Channel your watching somewhere on the screen and your looking at it all the time?
Or sometimes you even have animated commercials of the shows coming up at the bottom of the screen or even all over the screen during the show?
So instead: The shows distributed on iTunes for example or some other service build on BitTorrent could make all these shows available free for download with commercials of the kind I mentioned. E.g. CocaCola everybody would be looking at the sign all the time and it would burn itself into our minds for the companies its the best commercial ever. Kinda sucks still for the viewer because now we are all drinking coke instead of Orange Juice but at least we got our TV content free on your iPods, PSPs, Macs, computers and othe rconsumer devices. Oh and NO DRM!!! Because why would you want it? The more people watch it the better for the advertiser CocaCola in this case
But, I am thrilled that they have added BattleStar Galactica to their lineup. I was basically keeping my standard cable ($42 per month) around solely to watch it. Now, I can downgrade to basic ($8 per moth) and buy the 4 shows they show a month ($7.96 per month). There are a couple other shows I will miss, but the other shows aren't worth the extra $24 it would cost.
Originally posted by ndmccormack
frankly their pricing is getting silly.
for $1.99 you can get one of the following
4 minute music video
6 minutes of the Tonight Show
8 minute Pixar short
23 minutes of the Suite Life
43 minutes of Lost
57 of Battlestar Galactica
It doesn't make any sense. I for one wouldn't buy a clip from the tonight show for 1.99 when I know that i can get almost an hour of another show for the same price.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
i hope that apple sort this out in MWSF06
Why would you assume that a per minute pricing model makes sense. At iTMS you pay $0.99 for a song whether it is 2:30 or 5:30.
The price doesn't have to have anything to do with the length of the content.
Such a pricing approach assumes two equally interchangeable commodities. Entertainment content isn't like that at all.
Originally posted by ndmccormack
frankly their pricing is getting silly.
for $1.99 you can get one of the following
4 minute music video
6 minutes of the Tonight Show
8 minute Pixar short
23 minutes of the Suite Life
43 minutes of Lost
57 of Battlestar Galactica
It doesn't make any sense. I for one wouldn't buy a clip from the tonight show for 1.99 when I know that i can get almost an hour of another show for the same price.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
i hope that apple sort this out in MWSF06
well, apple wants absolutely no overhead of trying to manage and maintain a tiered pricing plan. simply put, when everything is the same price, it makes managing sales IMMENSELY easier, which translates into less time managing the sales transactions which equals more profit. it's up to the media provider to decide what is feasibly WORTH the $2 it will be priced at.
so, in general, the music video pricing still makes sense to me, because you are likely to watch it much more often than the same episode of a tv show. plus, as was said before, music companies are ecstatic that they will actually get some sort of profit off of these expensive ads that were produced, essentially, to sell songs. imagine if super bowl commercials could be sold AS AN ENTITY UNTO THEMSELVES, in addition to pushing sales for somethign else. hell, companies would be falling over themselves to recoup some of those costs. ANY of those costs.
but i think nbc isn't going to sell many 6-minute tonight show segments... which means they will either increase the length of time for the segment for sale, or pull it altogether and try something else.
Originally posted by rok
well, apple wants absolutely no overhead of trying to manage and maintain a tiered pricing plan. simply put, when everything is the same price, it makes managing sales IMMENSELY easier, which translates into less time managing the sales transactions which equals more profit. it's up to the media provider to decide what is feasibly WORTH the $2 it will be priced at.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, NBC thinks it needs to position Leno as a premium product, hence the high cost per minute.
Personally, I'd rather have Letterman anyways.
As far as pricing, I have to say that $2 for 5 minutes of Leno headlines is hardly worth it. Either make the full episode available for $2 or sell the segments for $.99. I also find it interesting that they have Conan's 10th anniversary special for $9.99. Is this setting the standard for full movies?
Originally posted by ndmccormack
frankly their pricing is getting silly.
There should also be a subscription model when serialised tv shows are involved - subscribe to Lost Season 2 for $25 - 1 dollar an episode.
They do. It is not exactly what you want, but you can get the whole first season of Lost (25 episodes) for $34.99. It is not a dollar per episode, but it is less than $1.99.
But then, you can buy it on DVD from Amazon for $38. I don't know if it is really worth paying this much for the iTMS videos, given its lower quality and more restricted access when compared to DVDs
Originally posted by rok
i think nbc isn't going to sell many 6-minute tonight show segments...
yeah ok, I get what you mean, but I think it was the comment above that was the reason I got a bit tee'd off.
The Tonight Show is a popular 30 minute TV show based around small news sketches - in a similar way that The Day Today (excuse me if I'm wrong - its only just started broadcasting in the UK, and I haven't really watched it)
So why would anyone pay 1.99 for a small segment of this programme when you can get another programme at full length. it just seems wrong, and frankly a bit cheeky by the media company
it's up to the media provider to decide what is feasibly WORTH the $2 it will be priced at.
Agreed, and this does bring an interesting factor into this new media on ITMS - its hardly as if record companies ask musicians to write shorter songs so that they can gain more profit form the recording time/costs.
Hopefully there will be no more TV Shows on ITMS in 'The Tonight Show' manner...
Interestingly I just looked up Lost on amazon.com to get some US price comparisons with iTunes - I had always thought that ITMS seemed rather expensive - 1.99 a show seems a lot of cash, but considering that the full series 1 DVD normally retails at 60 dollars, it seems slightly better - and hell I found Lost PSP Disc with 2 episodes on it for 17.99, which frankly seems absurd. Maybe ITMS isn';t that bad after all...
slightly of topic now
I suspect that I still have problems with the whole DRM'd media. I've only bought a handleful of cd's on iTunes and prefer actually owning a piece of plastic with a nicely designed booklet than buying a song that's all 1's and 0's and no physical dimensions.
I also find it strange that people are willing to pay for a video that is only 320x240 in size, a quarter of NTSC and less that of PAL. If 2005 is the year of HD, then surely Apple have to start shipping at least NTSC/PAL sized broadcasts soon, with smaller options for iPods. I do realise that network infrastructure does have a lot to do with this - NTSC/PAL downloads would be very large - it just seems silly to do this when the ONLY place you can really watch these if you care about image quality is your iPod - Why bother creating an iPod that has TV-Out when there's no real point in playing any of the videos on a TV?
excuse the rant....
This is doomed to be big. Hopefully they will be able to offer HD version later on as bandwith becomes cheaper and more readily available. I don't really care about the iPod Video, but I'm so ripe to buy that iMac mini intel DVR thing next year!
Seems like Microsoft, Sony, TiVo and all the others are loosing out big time here. Apple has now the perfect infrastructure to roll out whatever home entertainment products they want to, be it a iMac mini with Front Row or any box you can connect to your TV...
Originally posted by podendo
But then, you can buy it on DVD from Amazon for $38. I don't know if it is really worth paying this much for the iTMS videos, given its lower quality and more restricted access when compared to DVDs
I heartily agree - but that is discounted, so its hard to compare - the SRP is $60 after all. I personally wouldn't purchase an episode for 1.99 when its 320x240 in resolution. I would purchase it for 1.99 if I could watch it on tv at SD quality, and have the option to downsize it for my iPod, this would make much more sense - freedom for the user.
Originally posted by ndmccormack
So why would anyone pay 1.99 for a small segment of this programme when you can get another programme at full length. it just seems wrong, and frankly a bit cheeky by the media company
But two programs are rarely directly interchangeable. That is the issue. For example...I wouldn't pay a dime for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Bosom Buddies" but I might pay the $1.99 for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Seinfeld".
You are trying to apply quantitative measurements to what is largely a qualitative comparison.
If we are talking about something like oil, sugar, wheat, etc. (and even these have different grades) then a "per unit" pricing makes sense.
The only comparison that really makes sense here is the following...what options do I have to get the program:
1. Broadcast TV (includes commercials, only runs once, must be there or record it myself)...free (no direct out of pocket expense)
2. DVD (no commercials, must get whole season, must go to store...well maybe Amazon...must wait for it...higher quality...fewer usage limitations)...$30 for 20 episodes.
3. Apple (no commercials, lower resolution, limited usage, can buy "singles", don't have to leave my house, can get them nearly immediately)...$1.99/each.
Jobs has said that this whole thing is an experiment. So far, sales have gone way past expectations. That means that many people don't agree with what's being said here. At least so far.
Secondly, being that this whole thing is so new, they don't know what will work. So the content providers themselves are experimenting.
Don't forget that the whole iPod and iTunes thing became a much bigger business than Jobs and the music industry ever thought it would be.
As more providers come on board, and now it's obvious that they will, it will sort itself out like any other product line.
Some things will sell real well, and some won't sell much at all.
I expect that it will take a year for this to find its way. That would include a second generation player better suited to video, and hopefully, higher rez content.
I also expect to see providers of classic films that sell on DVD for $10 or less, the ones that have trouble getting shelf space in the stores, to appear. The good thing about iTunes is that everyone is about equal.
But, it's a start.
Sweet - Lake Bell on my iPod!
You don't need to know why.
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
But two programs are rarely directly interchangeable. That is the issue. For example...I wouldn't pay a dime for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Bosom Buddies" but I might pay the $1.99 for 30 (22 actually) minutes of "Seinfeld".
You are trying to apply quantitative measurements to what is largely a qualitative comparison.
If we are talking about something like oil, sugar, wheat, etc. (and even these have different grades) then a "per unit" pricing makes sense.
The only comparison that really makes sense here is the following...what options do I have to get the program:
1. Broadcast TV (includes commercials, only runs once, must be there or record it myself)...free (no direct out of pocket expense)
2. DVD (no commercials, must get whole season, must go to store...well maybe Amazon...must wait for it...higher quality...fewer usage limitations)...$30 for 20 episodes.
3. Apple (no commercials, lower resolution, limited usage, can buy "singles", don't have to leave my house, can get them nearly immediately)...$1.99/each.
Also, most people who complain about the 320 x 240 have never seen this on a tv. Tv resolution is not 720 x 480, it's 330 x 480 - if you have a good tuner. That's because tuners don't pass more that 330 lines horiz rez. Most barely get 300.
You MIGHT get better through cable, but probably not. Satellite can be even worse, with all the compression they often add.
I suggest that people actually see this content viewed on a tv, at normal seating distance before they knock it.
Most people don't have a tv that's capable of higher resolution even when bypassing the tuner.
85% of all tv's sold in the US this year, and about that abroad, are medium or smaller size crt models. All the back and front projection, LCD, and plasma sets compromised the other 15%.