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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
November 8, 2005
When Apple made the announcement last month that they would be offering TV episode downloads for $1.99 each, you may actually have heard my shout for joy, no matter how far away you might happen to be. What could possibly be better than downloading an episode of your favorite show that you missed? Sure, you can still tape it for “free” assuming you have a VCR and some tapes laying around, but who wants to go through the hassle? DVRs have also become amazingly popular, but there are still a few people out there (including myself) who don’t have one. The iTunes TV download process is fast, the quality is great, and the price is reasonable.
Today CBS and NBC announced their own “on demand” services, and I was excited at first, until I read the specifics in two different articles. As this one on ZDNet made clear, NBC and CBS are offering some of their top shows (Amazing Race, Battlestar Galactica, CSI, NCIS, Survivor, and several Law & Order offshoots) for only 99 cents. That’s great, but you have to choose which network’s shows you want to acquire, since they chose competing systems. CBS shows will be available through Comcast’s OnDemand service, while NBC’s offerings will only be available through a DirecTV DVR. Obviously you can’t have satellite and cable TV at the same time, so you’ll have to choose.
It gets even worse though, as this article in the Salt Lake Tribune explains. No matter which shows you choose, they will be available within a few hours or at most a day after the original broadcast. That’s great, but due to the “push” nature of both services, once the new show becomes available, the old one vanishes into thin air. You don’t “own” the content as you do with iTunes, where you can watch it whenever and however you want. Most folks will likely only purchase a few episodes here or there, in case something prevents them from being home at the right time, but I could see that some people (myself included) might like to purchase a whole season of a favorite series to watch several times to enjoy/critique.
Looks like I’ll still be rushing home to set up the VCR if I don’t want to miss a CBS or NBC show. The same won’t be true of my ABC favorites— Desperate Housewives and Lost. If I miss a show, no big deal—I don’t mind paying twice the price for the true freedom of being able to watch an episode whenever I want, and keep it.
Category: Entertainment
Published: November 8, 2005 10:03 PM
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» On-Demand Deal Doesn't Really Meet Consumer Demands from mashby.com
I didn't really mean to make the topic of downloadable TV, or TV On-Demand, a theme for the week, but after reading a few announcements today I felt a few words were in order. Today CBS and NBC made two big announcements today regarding providing conte... [Read More]
Tracked on November 9, 2005 2:51 PM