Apple Adds New TV Shows To iTunes

Phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Apple has added eleven new and classic television shows from NBC, the Sci-Fi network, and USA. The new shows include Alfred Hitchcock, Battlestar Galactica, Monk, Surface, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, Dragnet, Law & Order, The Office and most importantly: Knight Rider!" From the article: "Steve Jobs took the opportunity to toot Apple's horn, stating that since the inception of video downloads on the iTMS, they'd sold nearly three million individual items. In addition to the sales figures, the PR from Apple stated that their current offering of video stands at approximately 300 episodes. All in all this looks like a slam dunk for Apple as they're rounding up their distribution deals and diversifying their suppliers. If the rumored deals with FOX and CBS are true then Apple will have a dominating lead in this market, much like their current domination in the digital music distribution arena."

Comments

When will the rest of the world sign on?

[mattyohe]

Evidently TV is still only downloadable at the US iTunes store.

Re:When will the rest of the world sign on?

[IAmTheDave]

When will the rest of the world sign on?

Unfortunately, even if the rest of the world starts releasing programming, it won't be US based. BitTorrent's popularity is driven at least in part due to TV programming restrictions on an international level. Were iTunes to get Dr. Who in the UK, I still doubt it would be available for US users, continuing to leave people no legal way to obtain said programming.

It's like asking when DVD region coding will go away, and when a DVD/movie will have the same release date internationally. Despite the number of times Finding Nemo (etc) was pirated because it was on DVD here in the states even before it launched in theaters across the globe, people in charge of distribution and licensing will (seemingly) never get that it's a global world now.

Re:When will the rest of the world sign on?

[frostilicus2]

Here's what wikipedia has to say:

"In the United Kingdom, these fees are set by Parliament and go directly to the funding of the BBC, enabling it to run without the need for market competition. The licence fee, initially for radio sets (exempt since 1971), was mandated by the 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act. The fee was originally 10 shillings (£0.50) and in 2005 was £126.50 for colour TV and £42 for monochrome TV. There are concessions for the elderly (free for over 75s) and blind people (50% off). Only one licence is required per household. It is believed that approximately 5% of TVs are unlicensed. With the BBC's increased worldwide output (including its online services) there has been a debate as to the abolition of the TV licence, which has been denounced as a violation of the freedom to receive information without inteference. Generally, competing television companies favour the licence fee since it means the BBC will not compete with them for advertising or subscriptions. Proper debate of the licence fee is consistently suppressed by the BBC from its own airwaves. Numerous polls show significant public opposition to the fee.

According to the definition of TV receiving apparatus [1], a licence must be obtained for any device which is "installed or used" for receiving broadcasts, which potentially covers devices such as a tuner card in a PC or a portable television. However a television installed and used for some other purpose, such as a closed-circuit monitor, video player or a games console, is exempt provided the owner can demonstrate it is not used for receiving broadcasts.

Enforcement in the UK is provided by Capita Group and the AMV consortium. Capita agents are paid bonuses on the basis of the convictions they secure. AMV is an advertising and public relations agency. Several hundred thousand prosecutions are brought each year. Observations at magistrates court show that a very large proportion of those prosecuted are single women on benefits. Capita maintain a database of all addresses in the country, with electronics retailers being subject to large fines if they do not pass on the addresses of anyone buying television receiving equipment. Addresses with no licence are assumed to have a television, and are subject to repeated threatening mailshots and visits by the enforcement agency. In addition to the database, the BBC claims that electronic detectors are used to pick up the small amount of energy re-radiated by the local oscillator in the tuning circuitry. There is no evidence of any prosecution ever having been brought on this basis of this warrantless electronic surveillance and it is widely suspected that the famous detector vans are no more than mock-ups designed to intimidate viewers. It's open to doubt how well the much advertised detectors would work on a TV tuner card within the electrically noisy Faraday cage enclosure of a PC: the simpler method of calling round and looking for the aerial or an operating television would seem more effective. Note that, since the inspectors are not police officers or any other type of government official, they have no right to enter private property unless invited. Some feel that the scheme is as a regressive tax, in that the very poorest are those least likely to have a licence, and least able to pay the fine for not having a licence. A report ("TV sinners", March 1998) by the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux pointed out that failure to pay the fine is the single largest reason for the imprisonment of single mothers. However, supporters of the licence fee claim that it helps maintain a higher quality of programming on the BBC compared to its commercial rivals. Some also claim that it also leads to better programmes on the commercial channels as they seek to draw viewers/listeners away from the BBC's output."

Any other questions should probably be directed here.

Re:iTMS dominates now that they feature....

[generic-man]

They've had FOUR of his albums and one EP before Knight Rider was available. (Link requires iTunes.)

Re:Important question...

[Angostura]

A quick peek at iTunes shows that it is the U.S office. Getting the UK Office would require Apple to do a deal with the BBC. And wouldn't *that* be a great day.

Danger! Danger! Non-uniform pricing!!

[ZachPruckowski]

I'd like to point out that most of the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien stuff is $1.99, which means it costs the same as 45 minutes of LOST. But they are selling two roughly hour-long specials from Conan for $9.99. This is a big example of non-standard pricing, and I wouldn't be suprised to see more of it in the future.

Important Add-on comment

[ZachPruckowski]

I'd like to point out that most of the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien stuff is $1.99, which means it costs the same as 45 minutes of LOST.

The important part of that sentence is that the Leno and Conan stuff is 5-10 minutes long for the same price.

SD Quality Downloads

[Frobozz0]

It's Standard Definition (SD) quality television. In fact, it can look a lot better than SD if you play it through an HD set with upsampling or other quality improving technologies.

For example, I have a Sony 50" LCD Projection HDTV (Love it, BTW.) I also have a PowerBook. All I do is plug the S-Video cable from my computer to my TV and play all those episode of LOST I love. I had never seen LOST prior to downloading on iTunes, so I thought I would DL a couple and try it out. I was really impressed by the quality. It's better than a normal SD broadcast, the colors are amazing, and the compression is almost never noticable.

So, yes, I would like HD quality downloads for video (nominal charge is fine for bandwidth) and I'd like higher quality AAC's (norminal charge fine) as an option. But this is a great start and will prove the validity of the concept.

Re:This will be news when...

[SilentChris]

www.dapcentral.org All of the episodes that haven't been released by Rhino. Best Brains (the company that made the show) encourages "tape trading" so they don't mind the service (as long as no one makes a quick buck off it).

I currently have about 40-50 downloaded episodes, some near-DVD quality. Great resource.

Re:What Technology is Behind iTMS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup. It's all us. Bit customized on the software side, you understand, but there are just racks of Xserves serving up media.

Re:What Technology is Behind iTMS?

[amichalo]

iTunes Music Store is using Web Objects. Macworld reports in this article that it runs on Xserve and Xserve RAID and every investor knows Akamai (AKAM) is the bandwidth provider.