CBS, NBC to Offer TV Shows for 99 Cents

According to an AP report. "CBS and NBC have announced deals to offer replays of prime-time programs for 99 cents per episode, shifting television toward a sales model that gained popularity with downloaded music." But the shows will only be available over Comcast on Demand, not for download.

Comments

OnDemand doesn't work with DSL

[PIPBoy3000]

We had our Comcast person hooking up a phone line to let the cable box talk to their service. At the last minute he asked, "do you have DSL?" We did, and now it looks like we have to use the actual phone to order OnDemand shows. We never have, since it's such a pain, though we constantly watch the free ones, expecially the kid shows.

Of course, eMule works fine with DSL and the price of t.v. shows from that venue are quite competitive. For some reason, using the Internet as my Tivo doesn't fill me with a twinge of guilt.

Re:OnDemand doesn't work with DSL

[drinkypoo]

That's really wacky. It makes sense on satellite but basically all cable boxes have talkback and most of your high-end cable boxes actually have a cable modem in them. Hell, the analog cable stuff that was used in santa cruz county since at least 1980 had talkback, which was used to determine if people were stealing cable (and, of course, to order pay-per-view movies.) However the module was externally connected with an in-line jumper that you could disconnect; you then had to order PPV manually - if you didn't have a diagnostic chip installed. IIRC the boxes were made by either jerrold or scientific atlanta and were among the most expensive boxes in use at the time.

... but this does not allow the user to keep, no?

[compactable]

... $0.99 seems good, until you realize that this is a rental, not a purchase.

Rental schemes in the music industry have yet to take off (Napster? Yahoo music?). iTunes provides ownership, which I think is a cause of it's popularity ...

can you record the shows using Direc TV PVR?

[warnerpr]

From the article "The new DirecTV DVR comes with a hard drive that holds 160 hours of programming. One hundred hours are available for subscribers to record and store programs. The remaining 60 hours will be used by DirecTV to download programs that can be viewed on demand for an extra fee."

So they are recording a few shows from NBC, push them to your PVR, then let you pay money to watch them. Are you able to record them using the PVR in the first place for free? Or does the software prevent you. IF they prevent you from recording them yourself, this could be a preview of the boradcast flag, well a proprietary version of it.

The Discussion with a Real User

[Dark Paladin]

Me: OK - now I have my DVR so I can record shows.

Satellite company: Hey, but if you miss a show, you can download it to your DVR!

Me: Uh - that sounds pretty good. How much?

Satellite company: $0.99!

Me: Great - that's a better price than iTunes! So I can download it and watch it on my computer while I'm traveling -

Satellite company: No, you have to watch it at home.

Me: Oh. So can I sync it to my [insert portable video device here]?

Satellite company: No, you can watch it at home.

Me: But - could I just record the show with my DVR then? You know - the whole reason why I got a DVR?

Satellite company: You could, right until we decide that you can't record any shows you can buy. Isn't that swell?

Me: I knew there was a reason why I only use basic cable. This "digital crap but only through our proprietary boxes" is for losers.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Not realistic in this marketplace.

[sane?]

So the BBC is doing this for free http://www.bbc.co.uk/imp/ and these companies think there is a market to charge? How many adverts are they going to send with the actual content?

Its about time to face facts, people in general do not consider content to have the value that the companies would like to claim. I would suggest that a rough acceptable tariff for downloadable content would look like:

Music tracks (timeshift): free
Music tracks (to own): 70-99c (depending on quality)
TV shows (timeshift): free
TV shows (to own): 99c-$1.50 (depending on quality)
CD (10 or greater songs): $10
DVD (with extras): $12
DVD (movie, simultanous theatre release):$15
Movie ticket : $5-7

In addition I would suggest that people expect a licence to the content to mean they have a right to that content in any form with no extra licence costs. DRM might exist, but it can never interfere with the customer enjoying their property.

I'll guess that there are rewards for the first company to realise where the market is going and act accordingly. People expect that the quality will not be there, and are unwilling to pay up on spec. Its a mass product market, not a premium product market.

Re:iPOD comparison

[Total_Wimp]

If you have a working MythTV box, couldn't you just record the episode when it airs instead of paying $1 the next day to rent it?

For now. That's the danger of the broadcast flag. It's currently defeated, but stay tuned, more to come after these messages.

NBC makes $0.00 if you record with MythTV
NBC makes $0.99 if you buy/rent/beg for it the next day

They probably understand these numbers very well, and will make no bones about describing MythTV, Tivo, et al. as "theft" devices to your local congressman. The way to prevent such "theft" is with a broadcast flag.

Remember boys and girls, anything that doesn't make money for media companies is stealing. People who steal media will damage the American economy. Terrorists want to damage the American economy. Therefore if you have MythTV you are clearly a terrorist.

TW