How Should On-Demand Content Work?

Shirlockc asks: "A recent Slashdot thread on how NBC is planning to offer on demand movies, and this NPR story on The Changing Face of Television has me asking: How will content (be it TV, movies, old, new) be distributed? I also include books -- content is content, the medium for the content changes but good content will always sell. Has anyone thought to try a pay-on-demand for content ie., subsidize the production costs by getting the audience/fans to pay for new episodes, thus skipping the broadcast networks? I know there was a campaign to raise money, in this way, to save Star Trek Enterprise, and there was an attempt to bittorrent a Star Trek Spoof recently on a pay-for-download basis. For shows with a decent cult following (eg., Firefly, Arrested Development, etc.) isn't it possible to fund the production without network participation (assuming all license agreements can be cleared?"

Comments

Re:Amazing

[macshit]

2 or 3 commercial breaks lasting 2-4 minutes, depending on the movie rating

"Commercial breaks" are one of the most execrable things about watching a movie on television; why the !@#$ are you emulating that?

During a series originally intended for TV, it doesn't matter so much, because they're structured around the need for commercials, and for films, before and after are fine -- but not during the movie.