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Apple to Offer Monthly iTunes TV Subscriptions
sg3000 writes "Fans of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, rejoice! Reuters is reporting that Apple will provide monthly subscriptions to two of Comedy Central's most popular shows. One question, as TV shows become available for sale on the Internet, will this make it harder to share clips online, such as through Google Video? In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true."
Oh that's right Jobs is against that...
Am I the only one thinking this is the first step to subscription music on the IPod
Gan Family Homepage
"In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true".
That's Slashdot. Summed up in a single sentance. That's so beautiful.
I think I'm changing my sig.
*sigh*
And, in an attempt to be on topic:
No, why would it make it harder to share. Uh, google video? WTF?
Oh right. That's how people share videos... *snickers*
Oh Rihgt.
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
Thus the scientific basis for chiropractic, homeopathy, and items found in the Slashdot submission queue.
Dog is my co-pilot.
If prices weren't artificially high, I think a lot of people wouldn't bother pirating clips -- and the whole IP discussion wouldn't be as important. If, for example, you could download songs you liked at $0.10US each, why bother pirating them? Same for video -- let people freely trade small clips (say, 2 minutes or less) legally -- and add a link to the traded file to make it easy to purchase the whole episode for not too much money. Trading small video clips would become *good* for the companies that produce them, as it would get more people interested in the programs.
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
I just subscribed to the Daily Show. I don't have cable and the video quality is better than the files I've found on YouTube or other places online. The "subscription" title is a bit misleading - this is more like subscribing to a podcats - iTunes automatically downloads new episodes as they are made available. You can opt-in to an email notifying you that a new episode is available. It's more like a magazine subscription than a music service subscription since you get to keep the video files you've downloaded even if you don't renew the subscription. Kind of like buying an album on iTunes where they send you a song a week automatically. The DRM is the same as for any other song or video you buy on iTunes. Not a bad model for my needs.
Another opportunity to make easy monthly payments!
Nothing is changed in the normal process of ripping and seeding shows from cable so why would it when someone offers it with DRM? Did I miss something?
Please show me where I can download the entire show, as it aired on a given night, as a single unbroken clip, at either of those links.
This space intentionally left blank.
and for $40 a month, I get a hell of a lot more content than 4 shows.
Vote for Pedro
One question, as TV shows become available for sale on the Internet, will this make it harder to share clips online, such as through Google Video? In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true -TFA
Totally easier to share, but that's hardly the point. The point is I pay for cable, and there is no way I'd pay for both cable service and downloads... so if what I watch is available for download at $10/season... I'd ditch the cable. I'm not offended by the idea of paying for media. I pay for cable, I chuck money tward PBS from time to time. I'm not that hip paying for DVDs as in contrast to downloads they take up a hell of alot less space.
Parents would also be interested as I'm starting to notice more switching to video rentals rather cable subscriptions.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
The whole point of piracy, imo, is to make all media (entertainment not limited by the economics of scarcity) more convienient than actually purchasing the media..
/end rant.. gonna eat a banana now.
But, even with piracy, there's annoying costs involved.. It takes a user's time to find the shit. The user has to be skilled enough to extract it, run it, store it, convert it, etc.. Also, users have to rely on each other to package pirated media in convenient forms.
However, if one can pay a small fee to get ready access to their shows from anywhere, then piracy will die down. Once the actual media is more convenient than pirated media, piracy will be less of a problem. IMO, even most tenacious of pirates would rather have Google or Itunes store all their media so they could access it from their set-top boxes, Ipods, PSPs, cell-phones - all without having to take the time to convert it or store it on their own hard drives.
But then, since the media companies are so determined to prove piracy as a bigger problem than it is - as a display of greed not necessarily good for the media industry - they DRM the hell out of everything. So, most people that are used to controlling their own media just ignore everything with DRM.
Piracy, for consumers, IS A GOOD THING. The more consumers pirate, the more media companies will be FORCED to innovate and adapt. If the media companies were entirely in control, we'd probby be forced to listen to only the 10 most-popular songs on Clearchannel, watch reality tv with 1/2 the time being commercials, and call an 800 number to ask permission for every time we use the media.
IMO, what Apple is doing is a GOOD thing. It's just hilariously funny how Apple is doing it while becomming an unecessary middleman since the media companies have their heads so far up their own asses they can't realize that they are NOT in control of what the consumer wants - or even their own media once the consumer consumes it.
I support the principles of piracy.. I think it's morally acceptable to pirate when the pirated media is more convenient (with more features) than the regular media. The marketplace is about the consumer - not the producer. If I decide to put my Chiquita banana on a stripper's tit covered in chocolate and take pictures of it, Chiquita can't cry when I'm not consuming it like a normal monkey. I feel the same way about media companies..
If media companies had their way, they'd have control of our memories and erase everything they could re-sell us. So, we'd even forget we watched a movie or bought the DVD and blindly pay for it again.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
This is pretty cool. The iTunes model .. could be worse. With my Mac that runs iTunes and my iPod, I hardly even notice the DRM. iTunes prices are very reasonable, legit :P, and go straight into my library. AAC provides decent enough music for my 2.1 speaker system (or my headphones). iTMS MPEG-4 provides decent enough quality video for 2 bucks an episode. There is definitely tons of room for improvement, but seeing as they're the dominant force in the online legit music business, they could make the predicament much, much worse.
"Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
Deaer Earnest Murderer,
You, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Your calm demeanor and rational way of handling confrontation are an example of maturity to us all, which I am sure brings in the ladies. Please accept my apologies on behalf of your aggressor as he busts your hump and promptly pisses off as you commanded. I extend this token to you out of goodwill.
Signed,
Theodore S. Quogin, 1893
"Sufferin' succotash."
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/ full show.jhtml
In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
The Daily Show was among the first TV shows to be freely available for download. This may just be the beginnings of an end of an era for free internet content.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
Why do I feel like some marketing guy at Apple is eyeing my ITMS account, just waiting for me to sign up:
..."
"Hey pal, you said you'd do it
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
"In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true."
I believe the proper expression is:
Answer with truthiness.
You're partly right in that it's not entirely new. But it is new.
Unlike traditional TV, preordering a show on iTunes allows the producer to gauge interest and demand. It's not the standard television "push" model that spends lots of money up front only to find that no one really cares after the fact. By attracting funding in advance by selling subscriptions, the production cost of the program can be partially offset. And you KNOW that you'll have an audience.
Admittedly that's not what's happening now. These shows weren't created FOR iTunes, and they became established the old fashioned way. But theoretically this model could be used to create targeted programming. To use an old Slashdot (and personal) favorite, how many people would subscribe in advance for a new season of "Firefly"? How much would they (and you) be willing to pay to make it happen? Just as musicians are viewing iTunes as a potential model to cut out the middle man record labels, independant video producers might find a similar benefit in directly reaching their audience.
Corporations have agendas, that are motivated/governed by one or a select few individuals. In the case of Apple Computer, everyone knows who the steward of the Apple ship is, what his path is remains to be somewhat "foggy." Why is this? Well, that my friend is a trade secret, owned by the one soul in the universe with his own REALITY DISTORTION FIELD. At the age of 38 and as a long time Apple user, I could never predict very far Steve Jobs's visions, and that's the key to the success of Steve and Apple. Steve Jobs has a gift that is unique to the success of a business that he co-founded, that he is absolutely passionate about. Whether you or I like it or not, Apple Computer is on the verge of crossing a threshold, a boundary that will propel it farther than its competition ever imagined. The foundation of this success will be the quality of its products: the iPod, iTunes and the momentum of the iTunes Music Store, and lastly the quality of Apple's operating systems and hardware. Consumers want something simple to use that works flawlessly out of the box. Apple has already achieved that with its computers (with less than or equal to 5% market share - it didn't work economically, hardware was too expensive for the average consumer), so it ventured into digital music players - now very successful! Now Apple is transitioning to Intel processors, i.e. more or less generic hardware that it doesn't have to design and engineer itself - effectively "outsourcing" the Macintosh design to Intel. Through its digital music players, Apple has shown the massive consumer market that it can design and successfully implement quality software and hardware integration that works flawlessly for the consumer. I predict that over time, Apple will make steep inroads to consumer markets, and eventually corporate America and global corporate markets. This will be in combination and recognition to producing goods and services that meet both consumer and commercial needs. There will be some serious convincing in the corporate world, but as more and more people play with and experiment with Mac OS X and iPods, people will be purchasing more Apple products. Microsoft and Sony have already lost the media war to Apple, I'm glad in one way that I own Apple stock, fearful in another way that Apple may "think itself so large and influential that it can go into any direction that it wants." There is always uncertainty with any investment... but Apple is here to stay no matter what Microsoft and Sony would like otherwise, or anyone else.
The one factor in Apple's favor is that Steve Jobs is hell bent on being NUMBER 1, not just good enough, unlike Bill Gates who likes to be just good enough. The Borg is too large and the corporate culture is too much "set in place" for adequate change for a serious challenge to Apple's agenda and momentum. Looking at Apple's market share, both in terms of computer sales, iPod sales, online services, overall market share, Apple Computer is GROWTH COMPANY AND CASH COW waiting to happen! It's just a matter of time before maturity develops...
I hope everyone's watching closely as fair use is lying on its deathbed.
Lots of Slashdotters are hailing this development as a move away from traditional TV-based distribution to online video sales. It sounds nifty on paper, but let's look to the future. If these online video stores end up becoming popular enough to supplant TV distribution, fair use is screwed. These videos are DRM encumbered, and breaking that protection is against the law. TV shows like the Daily Show and Colbert Report depend on their being a large pool of accessible content to discuss and parody. Once it's all online and DRM encumbered, they won't be able to use that content without breaking the law. Want to add background music to your home videos? I hope you didn't buy your music online. Even though this type of use isn't specifically protected under copyright law, it is still felt to be perfectly acceptable by the masses, and courts would probably back it based on the same logic that stopped Hollywood from taking time-shifting away from us.
The future looks bleak for creative works online. These developments call for an overhaul of our copyright laws, but it really doesn't look like that's going to happen. Should a work that is only available in a DRM encumbered form still be protected by copyright? If so, why? Copyright was granted to copyright creators for a limited term, but with DRM, not only do they take away fair use, but they also gain the ability to close up their work forever. Hopefully someone gets elected soon that sees and is willing to fix the many problems with our copyright laws.
/ doesn't have a TV // only watched the Daily show when I had free cable and Eye-TV /// doesn't want to pay Comcast for 40 channels when all I watch is one show
So in other words, it's EXACTLY like a subscription.
As opposed to the bullshit newspeak definition of "subscription" we've been hearing lately.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
I was about to buy the 16 episode plan, but I previewed the episode and noticed that both TDS and TCR both have problems in the encoding. The videos are are 320x208 resolution, which is horribly non-standard and causes the stretching of both videos (well, more accurately, squishing, but they have the same end effect), making everyone look fat. I have a blog post with picture comparing Jon Stewart's head in the video with how it should look.
You'll still be able to get it for free... in fact, the more it's distributed for free, the more Apple will make.
They're not really selling the bits, although they're pretending to. What they're selling is convenient, automated delivery, and super-convenient playback. It blends many of the best elements of the computer and a VCR. So the more available it is online, the more people will be interested, and the more will sign up for the automated delivery service.
This is the first really definite step toward the Holy Grail of convergence.
I might even subscribe. It'd take more than 10 bucks' worth of time to find and download these episodes anyway.
Actually, I think it was an attempt to reference the Colbert Report. Steven pretends he is a Fox News-style pundit, who prefers the council of his "gut" to the facts.
The fact that it also works as a perfect description of the Slashdot crowd is just gravy.
I know that in Australia, technically it is illegal, but no one will arrest you or fine you for it. same with ripping CDs. legislation is coming so that these two will be legal.
Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home!
Too bad the TV shows are US only.
I've gotten tired of hearing the constant stream of "So-and-so is now selling something-or-other on iTunes" announcements lately, when absolutely zero TV shows are on the Canadian store.
I don't get why Apple only has permission to sell stuff only in certain regions - like lots of albums in the US store that aren't in the Canadian store. With physical media, it's not like if I zip across the border into Washington, the people at the store can't sell me a particular CD because they don't have permission to sell it to Canadians, so why is it the case with iTunes?
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
So in other words, it's EXACTLY like a subscription.
As opposed to the bullshit newspeak definition of "subscription" we've been hearing lately.
That was the most insightful thing I've read on Slashdot all month. In the real world, when you subscribe to something you get something you can keep - like magazines or a CableTV feed you can record (by law, since it has to include firewire output).
Newspeak has "subscription" taking on the meaning of the peep show, where you can see whatever you like - as long as you keep putting in quarters. The moment you stop you have nothing, and indeed can legally not even try to keep anything.
What a great summary of the ripoff that modern "subscription" services are. $10 a month for eternity is not cheap in my book.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Copyright laws are out of control it seems like. In my OPINION, the below would be just fine.
First of all, make media (such as music, movies, television, etc., not books or e-books) have commercial copyrights expire at 50 years, personal use copyrights expire at 10 years, and educational use copyright non-existant.
-
Commercial use as in making money off of it, like using it in a movie, selling it to someone, etc.
Personal use should be self-explanatory. Maybe I should say home use. (Selling tickets to a home viewing would be illegal since it's commercial use, not personal/home use.)
Educational use such as in doing research, I guess.
Fair use would be making personal copies for one's own use. Someone has already legally bought a copy, and regardless of what the license says, it should be legal, and isn't immoral, to make a copy for oneself. Maybe someone bought a new DVD. I think it's perfectly reasonable to make a back-up copy.
Someone giving a copy away to others should be a civil matter on both parties. Civil as in sueing for the price of the DVD plus legal costs among other things. Either way, it'd be way below that $250k fine or whatever.
Someone selling a copy should be a criminal matter.
I'll definately listen to a song more than once. We all will. But, these are topical news shows. They talk about things that happened today. You probably won't watch them ever again. And now you own them!
I'd take that $10 a month and get a DVR box from my cable company. Then I could record ANYTHING I want and watch it when I'm at home. I don't need to watch last night's TV shows on my portable device.
Obviously video subscriptions are selling... but it's not my cup of tea. If your most favoritest show in the world in the Colbert Report... you must be jumping for joy.
I'll turn on the TV at 11:30pm... or I won't.
I'm over on an American airbase in South Korea, and I'm glad that I'm able to get the Daily Show from iTunes.
.torrents, and by that evening, I have all the TV shows I'm interested in.
I've been downloading my favorite shows from BitTorrent sites, (including Mythbusters, Stargate SG1/Atlantis, Malcolm in the Middle, and The Simpsons), but I'd go nuts trying to download the Daily Show... Why? Because I'd have to find it every day. The other shows are all once a week.. I spend about a half hour Saturday morning grabbing
Now I'll be able to watch the Daily Show every day, without having to spend the time looking for and sorting out each episode with all the different naming conventions, and trying not to miss an episode. iTunes makes it easy, and is well worth $9.99 a month.
Hey, that's what hardship pay is for, right?
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
You mean like pre-purchasing 12 magazines that are released once a month and calling it a "12 month subscription"?
"Hey without my chiropractor, I wouldn't be able to turn my head side to side"
More and more doctors are coming to the conclusion that most back pain that doesn't have an actual obvious physical problem is indictive of stress and/or psychological pain.
"Regular western medicine would rather fuse my spine"
There are bad doctors everywhere. It's your body, take charge. Find a doctor who is more in line with your thinking. "Western Medicine" is not an insult; it's a system based on provable scientific facts. If I do X, I will get result Y Z% of the time.
Chiropractors once they get beyond rubbing your back are quacks. Your spine can't be "aligned", and no disease is caused by spine alignment. What we do know is that people's minds control their body to a significant degree. And we know a lot of people are whiners about their pain so effective debilitate themselves because they have convinced themselves the pain is debilitating. What chiropractors do is essential convince people they are getting better. Because for the most part, since pain in the back is psychological, if you work on the psyche, you cure the body.
If you go to a chiropractor and you believe they're a quack and its the equivalent of a witch doctor saying "ooga booga booga", then they have no power to heal. So while I admit that too many doctors are pill pushers and don't listen to patients, part of that is that people have too much faith in doctors. They're like a mechanic for your car. You don't keep going back to a bad car mechanic who gives you bad advice...why would you go back to a doctor who gives you bad advice? My brother in law had severe neck/back pain for 2 weeks and went to a doctor who gave him similar advice. I told him that doctor was incompetent; unless he was in a car accident or something similar, he certainly would not need to undergo surgery. I told him to get more/better advice and while he was shopping around, the pain gradually subsided. The poor guy was stressed between work and family and it was clear to me the problems were psychological. He needed to relax, not fuse vertabrae.
Take charge of your life and body. And I guess if it helps you to go to the witch doctor to cure you, that's fine too. But prefer cause and effect explanations.
if you ever decide to unsubscribe, you still get to keep the shows you already downloaded.
I don't want to have to pay apple or anyone else.
You know what I want? A pony.
The reason this price is acceptable has little to do with Steve Jobs or his blessings.
Yes, any way you slice it a DVD is a better deal (high res, six channel sound, extras, etc.), but some consumers don't want to 1) buy a DVD or record a TV show on a DVR, 2) rip it, 3) encode it, 4) move it to their iPod, just so they can watch in while they're sitting on the train to work.
For some of them, amazing as it sounds, paying a buck or two an episode to instantly acquire a commercial free version for their iPod is worth it: even with the low res and DRM.
We live in an instant gratification world now, and that's why this price is perfectly acceptable.