iTS and AppleTV have serious competition.

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
It's amazing how the TV world is changing so fast.



This evening I logged onto abc.com to watch a couple of recent TV episodes. ABC has a new player plug-in (works great with Safari) with which you can watch full screen 16x9 TV Shows. I connected my MacBook to my 37" TV and I was amazed by the quality of the content. I watched an episode of Lost and one of Grey's Anatomy. There are a few short commercial breaks but nothing like the 18 minutes of ads you must endure watching the shows live. The other network websites are offering similar web TV viewing but ABC is the best I've seen so far. Makes the 4x3 episodes available at iTunes look pretty sad in comparison.



So I'm asking myself why I would want to buy these shows from iTunes when they're available free, in higher quality than iTunes, with only about three minutes of commercial breaks. (Gotta run to the fridge anyway.) I thought I might buy an AppleTV eventually but now I'm doubting it. Of course, the network websites might eventually ruin a good thing and jam more commercials into their online shows, but for now it's just great!



I wonder what cable companies are going to do. The days of $100/month cable TV packages will soon be over.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Easy: AppleTV lets you watch it in your living room on your 47" HDTV, instead of in your den on your 20" computer.



    The AppleTV is getting hacked and extended *so* quickly already, that it's almost like it was planned that way...
  • Reply 2 of 6
    idaveidave Posts: 1,283member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kickaha View Post


    Easy: AppleTV lets you watch it in your living room on your 47" HDTV, instead of in your den on your 20" computer.



    Did I say I watched on a 20" computer display? No, I watched on my 37" HDTV. What I was saying is that options and competition are developing quickly. Buying AppleTV and buying each episode I want to watch from iTunes may not be the best option.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    You're right, I misspoke... it lets *most people* watch it in their living room instead of on the computer.



    Given that the device streams various media, has net access, etc, etc, etc, I suspect it will be a short matter of time before URL streaming is a real functionality on it.



    For most people, the choice is: get a computer dedicated to the living room, or get a media extender. A lot of people won't want the former, and probably already have a computer somewhere in the house. This gets them that last connection.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    imacfpimacfp Posts: 750member
    So many things are happening now that's not a good time to predict anything or who will come out ahead. Long term the networks will either add more commercials that you'll be forced to sit through or they'll come up with some kind of pricing scheme i.e. subscription or al a carte like iTunes. The point being it won't stay free for ever and I also expect Apple to start using HD content.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    Remember how everybody said when iPod was released? Just give some credits to Jobs and his Apple
  • Reply 6 of 6
    @homenow@homenow Posts: 998member
    Moves like this from the broadcasters can only help Apple TV, though they need to have some type of way for it to access the content. Hopefully this will be coming, and the more Apple TV's sold the faster the broadcasters are going to sign up with Apple for access to that growing customer base.



    It will help the broadcasters as well, and since they are collecting user information they can offer targeted advertising as well as traditional advertising. It is not going to eliminate sales of TV shows on iTMS or DVD since that is an additional proven source or revenue, especially for shows which are not currently being broadcast or are in syndication. People are buying these shows for commercial free viewing and to have in their library of the shows that they are most interested in owning, just like people do with movies that they want. The broadcasters most likely will not keep their full library of shows, past and current, up on the internet for access, just those that are being produced today and then probably only the most recent episodes. They will take them down as soon as the access drops below a certain level and they are no longer collecting enough hits on that particular show to bring in enough ad revenue to make it profitable.
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