Slashdot Mirror
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."
WHICH Office?
This is an important issue here! One is a funny show, the other is the funniest show since Basil Fawlty...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Apple's has the opportunity to take a big lead in this new trend just for going out of the gate with it. Here's an idea that will eventually have to take hold. With large bandwidth, modern compression, and the "Media Center" role PCs are starting to play, there will be a market for video-on-demand via the computer. It was obvious, but Apple will get out there first and build a big lead in this market just because they went after it.
In the meantime, Im happy to see more shows on itunes
sorry 'bout the mess...
Where's the BabeWatch?
;)
Not only is David a superstar, he's a world singer
After all the years of insanely stupid business decisions, lagging in the markets, struggling to compete, and relying on loyal users to keep it up, look at Apple now. ITMS dominates, and it does so for the right reasons - good software, good hardware. No acts of Congress involved. Good for them.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
Why not offer some episodes for free as an incentive to download the others?
For example, why not offer some freebies of more unpopular shows as an incentive to download the popular ones?
Why can't NBC/SciFi/Steve Jobs just give some things away as a way of saying thanks for all the millions of dollars they make?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I don't remember paying an extra surcharge on DVDs here, so I fail to see this being any different; Apple should be in the clear.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
'FairPlay' DRM? Not good. I can't play it outside iTunes.
It's an Apple service intended for video iPod users. Why would they want you to have it anywhere else?
Open and accessible store? Nope. You need iTunes which is only available for Macintosh and Windows.
Hm, Mac OS X and Windows. That covers how much market?
Compatibility with many devices? Nope. Only one: the iPod 5G.
Here's an idea. Lets build a time machine and go back and build in video functionality in the old iPods.
Well at least I can create a DVD, like iTunes lets me burn a CD with my purchased songs, right? Nope. No burning. Only playback.
Hrm. Let's see. Can you play a DVD on your iPod? No?
Well at least the new episodes of Law & Order, which are filmed in HDTV, will be shown in brilliant 1280x720 resolution, right? Nope. 320x240.
Again, you're talking about a service for the video iPod. The resolution it can display is only so high.
Good for you, Apple. Welcome to the 19th century. I'll be over here with my trusty BitTorrent client.
19th century? Wow. I guess you're trying to make your point. Yet Apple is the first company to offer something like this.
As for BitTorrent, grow up. Do you seriously expect that everyone would work for free to create these shows?
Imagine if half the audience for Lost suddenly started watching the shows only on BitTorrent. The advertisement rates for the slot would drop, creating less cash for the network and the show, probably causing the network to pull the show because it's not creating enough revenue.
That is one of the reasons I shell out $40 for the seasons worth of Battlestar Galactica. I know I can get a reasonable quality copy off BitTorrent, probably even the very same DVD images. However I'd like to see more of the show. Thus I pay some money so the actors and the crew and the network can earn some money and be encouraged to create another season.
TANSTAAFL
These shows are ridiculously overpriced. Do the math- we'll look at the highest-rated show, Desperate Housewives:
Average number of viewers/episode: 17.44mil
Number of ads per show: Probably about 10min of National ads (20 30-second spots), 5 of local ads (10 30-second spots)
Price per 30-second National spot: $560,000
National ad revenue per show: $11.2m
Value/viewer: $.64!
Now, this isn't counting the value of the local ads (which sell in the tens of thousands of $/spot, depending on the market and timeslot), what the show will make in syndication, or DVD sales, but neither is it counting the costs associated with broadcasting television, which are far greater than the cost of hosting a file. I just can't imagine a single show being worth more than a dollar. $2!? I think I'll find [ahem!] other ways to get the shows for a better price point.
I'd gladly pay a quarter for the rights to watch a 30-min show ad-free for 24hrs, encumbered with DRM and everything. If there were a huge database of these shows, I might even go back at a later date and pay to watch them again. A system like that would have to be at LEAST as profitable as broadcast TV, if not moreso...
So the question I have is, Will americans have a shot of being able to download BBC shows like "Top Gear"? (instead of having to watch the edited / censored version that the discovery channel plays).
If not, I'll have to continue to download top gear via bittorrent...
Kiteboarding Gear Mention slashdot and get 10% off!
there isn't a -1 Whiny option.
Using h.264 a 40 min episode in 700x400 resolution would be about 300 MB, which would be doable with DSL. That resolution would make me a really happy shopper :)
Let's suppose you use Myth TV. My guess is that you'll probably waste ... oh ... 10h getting it working. In a couple of years you'll need to rebuild it from scratch. So let's call that 10h @ $50/h = $500 + $500 worth of hardware. Both of these figures are conservative.
So that's $1000 for 2y of PVR.
Or you could buy a TiVo. That's $50-300 + $200 of subscriptions for 2y of PVR (by which time TiVo is bankrupt...). And sales tax. Yada yada yada.
Then there's your cable TV bill (or are you doing all this for broadcast?). Let's call that $50/month. So now we're at:
$50 x 24 = $1200.
$250 - $1000 for PVR.
Add a bunch more for premium stations. Add a bunch more for more than one PVR.
This will buy you, say 29-44 SEASONS of TV on DVD @$50/season or 725-1100 episodes of iTMS video. I just don't watch that much TV... So it's already cheaper to buy TV content on DVD (but you have to wait for it to come out and miss stuff that never comes out) or iTMS (but it's not HD and it's arguably not quite broadcast quality -- but you do get to keep it).