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NBC To Offer On-Demand Movies Via P2P

Posted by Zonk on from the getting-closer dept.

RX8 writes "NBC Universal has signed a deal with Wurld Media to make some of their movies available for download via a secure P2P network in 2006. There hasn't been a price released yet, but the movies include what you would get on their existing video-on-demand and pay services plus around 100 older movie titles. Once the material is downloaded, users can only view it for up to 24 hours before it expires."

20 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. 24 hours? by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

    Oh no, my Slashdot P2P trial has expired! :( HELP!!!!

    1. Re:24 hours? by im_mac · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Users will be able to view the material for 24 hours once they begin playback on their computers; once downloaded, the material will be stored on the user's computer for 30 days to act as a resource in the Peer Impact network

      Let me get this straight. I can only watch it for 24 hours but it'll remain on my harddrive for 30 days, 29 of which it is inaccessible to me? Sounds like I should be charging NBC a rental fee.

  2. Movies available on P2P by mrtroy · · Score: 4, Funny

    NBC...I have a phone call for you.

    The year 2000 is calling, and wants its idea back.

    --
    [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
    1. Re:Movies available on P2P by paranode · · Score: 4, Insightful
      No kidding. I don't think these execs really get it. P2P got huge because the downloaders were getting stuff for free. I mean it's good that they are tapping the resource and at least attempting to do something 'modern', but if I'm going to pay money I want real on-demand... not getting on their P2P network and waiting to download the whole thing from peers. I guess you might be able to get it faster than a subscription service like Netflix (considering mail time), but then again you don't have a DVD, you have a video file which you have to play on a computer (or output to your TV if you have that setup).

      Plus the 24 hour thing. What if I can't watch it right away? I would be mad if it expired after 24 hours. I hate DRM but if they are going to use it they should at least protect it in such a way that you can wait to view it or even watch it multiple times on the same computer.

    2. Re:Movies available on P2P by chriswaclawik · · Score: 3, Funny

      5 minutes ago called. They want their cliched joke back.

      --
      A guy walks into a bar... well, I forgot the joke, but the punchline is that he's an alcoholic.
    3. Re:Movies available on P2P by Prophet+of+Nixon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the file expires in 24 hours, what incentive is there for peers to hold the expired file and seed it? This sounds dumb.

  3. Note to MPAA and RIAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it expires, I won't be buying it.

    Entertainment is to be done at my leisure. I choose the terms, not you.

    Simple as that.

    1. Re:Note to MPAA and RIAA by Matt+Ownby · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, I believe the MPAA/RIAA and you _agree_ to terms.

      I agree with your point, though... having downloadable content expire is quite lame.

      I can go to McDonalds and rent a new DVD for $1 for a 24-hour time period. Why would I want to download a movie (which would undoubtedly be lower quality than a DVD) for more than $1 (which is what I assume they'd charge) ? I mean, what is the advantage here? Are they new movies that are out in theaters? Because if you can just get them on DVD, where is the value?

  4. Standard Codec ? DRM ? by Yoshy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The 24 hours part is bad news, not because I'd like to keep the movies but because it means that it will only available to Windows.

  5. fair is fair by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Once the material is downloaded, users can only view it for up to 24 hours before it expires.

    And they can only spend my money for 24h before the payment expires, ok?

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  6. Old tech beats new tech by johnlcallaway · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My 20 year old Toshiba VCR is looking better and better every day. I have yet to find anything it could not record when using the analog video/audio jack feeds....

    --
    I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
  7. Explodes. - No, expires. by Ceriel+Nosforit · · Score: 4, Funny

    "...users can only view it for up to 24 hours before it expires."

    I was expecting to read "explodes" rather than "expires". I'm glad I was wrong.

    But now I worry that by posting this I might give them ideas.

    --
    All rites reversed 2010
  8. Why Movies? Do TV. by xstonedogx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why not their television programming?

    If they posted the programming with advertisements intact, eventually they may be able to ask more for advertising, or treat it as a separate advertising space altogether. Plus, the torrents for their shows are going to be out there anyway. This way there is an official torrent that most people are going to want because: they can expect a certain level of quality and there is no risk to them. AND it also increases awareness and availability of their show.

    Heck, if they did this I might even watch some of their shows.

  9. Re:Surprise - Too Little, Too Late by MoralHazard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You think that the only killer feature of P2P networks is free content? My friend, you miss something, I think.

    True P2P networks offer tremendous bandwidth efficiency for the distributors of content, which is especially important when you're delivering large content (like, say movies and other media). Think of how quickly Bittorrent downloads of Linux distros took off--it made it so much easier for gazillions of people to get a brand-new release at the same time. No more waiting a week for the Debian FTP servers to be pingable again.

    Plus, the distributor saves money on bandwidth charges, since many of the users will get the content from each other instead of the central servers. Whether this in turn increases the costs of the users remains to be seen, but it probably won't affect their connectivity bills much more than using open P2P networks to get stuff on their own.

  10. To all the naysayers: by jonnythan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Everyone seems to be griping about the time limit. I know it goes squarely against the DRM-hating /. masses, but not only is it valid but people will buy into it.

    They've already been doing it for years with movies On Demand, now you can do the same thing on your computer. There are time limits for On Demand and Blockbuster, now it's the limit for your authorized download.

    Big whoop. Just because it gets downloaded to your computer doesn't mean you have the right to watch it as many times as you want, as often as you want, for the rest of your life.

    Get over it already.

    1. Re:To all the naysayers: by OS24Ever · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And look how Blockbuster is turning out, along with their 'late fees'

      One would think with the amount of TV shows being sold on DVD that they'd think there would be a happy digital medium to this. It's OK to sell DVDs, but if it plays on a computer it must explode and go away. I don't get it, the content on my computer isn't going to be as good as a DVD unless I want to download 10GB of stuff, which I don't.

      --

      As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.

    2. Re:To all the naysayers: by Scrameustache · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There are time limits for On Demand and Blockbuster, now it's the limit for your authorized download. [...] Get over it already.

      People can get copies of their stuff without paying them a cent for it. Get over it already.

      No?

      Then they should stop fucking with us by imposing arbitrary and artificial annoyances such as a 24h deadline.
      You have to return the PHYSICAL media when you rent, that's why we accept that limit: We don't want others to hang on indefinatly to the stuff we want to watch, so we accept that we must return the disc/cassette so that it will be available to others, and so others do the same in order for the content to be available to us.

      But we COPY the content when we download it. It will get deleted when we're done with it, when we need the space, not when they decide they don't want us to have it anymore. Not to mention that in peer-to-peer realities, keeping the copy makes it available to others, not the other way around.

      Their DRM will be circumvented, their content will be redistributed, for free, without their stupid limit, on "pirate" p2p networks, and it will be their damn fault for being TOO GREEDY.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  11. When does the clock start ticking? by Morgalyn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    24 hours? Is that from the point of purchase, or the point of completed download? Because if the movie is of a quality worth paying for, that's a significant difference for a lot of users.

    Besides, that's an awfully short period of usage. Why would anyone do that versus renting the movie? It would have to be very cheap. What about the ability to pause the movie, or watch it more than once? Is this going to be like those failed one-viewing DVDs that came out a while ago?

    --
    You say you got a real solution
    Well, you know
    We'd all love to see the plan
    (The Beatles)
  12. Dear NBC, by ewhac · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I am willing to pay exactly $0.00 for this "service" you're planning on offering. Copy protection is a form of product defect, and I do not purchase products I know to be defective. You may wish to confer with Sony on this issue.

    On the other hand, if you are willing to offer movies and programs in an unencumbered format (DiVX, MPEG, QuickTime, Ogg Theora, whatever) with no usage restrictions, and no special download clients required, then I'd be very willing to consider as much as $3.00 per show/program downloaded. I'd especially be interested in the old NBC Mystery Movies from the 1970's, including McCloud, Columbo, and McMillan and Wife.

    Please correct your offerings accordingly.

    Schwab

    --
    Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
  13. Re:Surprise - Too Little, Too Late by Jeff+Mahoney · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, that's not the point of my post at all. I wasn't addressing the usefulness of a p2p network in this case - rather on the limited usefulness of the content itself.

    There are a few separate issues with how they want to roll this out, and they all revolve around DRM.

    1) The limited lifespan. Most people can deal with this, since as someone else mentioned the "On Demand" services and Blockbuster effectively limit the time you're allowed to enjoy the content.

    2) Attaching DRM to the content means there is a lack of an open standard. I can't very well write a viewer for the content myself, and any attempt to do so would result in angry lawyers contacting me. While the average user doesn't need to be able to author their own viewing application, it means that the developers who write software for operating systems other than ones from Microsoft or Apple can't either, so everyone else loses too.

    These don't seem like big issues to the average home user, but the fact is that most people who are downloading TV shows or movies now aren't average home users. Why would these users give up the freedom and functionality they have now, and pay for the privledge of doing so? This deployment isn't going to meet their demands, and thus the use of unauthorized p2p networks to distribute the content in a format more palatable for those users will continue.