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ABC To Offer Full Shows Online

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the without-them-i'd-be-lost dept.

vitaly.friedman writes to mention an Ars Technica story on the ABC's newest bid to stay relevant in the Information Age. As of the end of this month the network will be airing certain popular television shows on the ABC website, starting the morning after their first broadcast. From the article: "All programs will be shown in their entirety, including commercials which cannot be avoided. That's a smart move on ABC's part, as it ensures that advertisers will get another shot at hawking their wares to an audience that might otherwise change channels during commercial breaks or fast-forward through them if recorded. Aside from being unable to avoid commercials, watching the programs will be similar to watching timeshifted content in that viewers will be able to pause, fast forward, and rewind."

5 of 316 comments (clear)

  1. Available the day after? by RunFatBoy.net · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If ABC is really looking to make a splash, maybe they should offer some of these episodes the day *before* they air. Given how quickly buzz becomes stale after the fact, people would jump at a chance to get a preview of their favorite show.

    Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ -- A workout plan that doesn't feel like homework.

    1. Re:Available the day after? by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This way more people are likely to watch it twice.

      Also, this way they aren't stepping on revenue streams for their local affliates. (Who may be able to show some local ads during the regular broadcast. Or at least share revenue.)

      What you are talking about is a whole different business model. It could well work, but I wouldn't want to give up a currently working business model to try it.

      --
      'Sensible' is a curse word.
    2. Re:Available the day after? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I live in the UK, so I am used to about half as many adverts as you (a 42 minute program takes 42 minutes on the BBC, 50-55 minutes on the other channels and 60 minutes in the USA). Last year, I pretty much stopped watching broadcast TV because there were too many adverts. There are many other forms of entertainment where I don't have to waste 20% of the time watching advertisements, and so TV could not compete. The only series I watch are those which are released for rental on DVD (I have a subscription to a NetFlix-like service).

      If any TV provider wants to re-gain my custom, then they will have to provide an ad-free delivery system. I don't mind paying for what I watch (although I do prefer a fixed fee, watch whatever you like system), but I do object to wasting my time.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  2. Commercial Skipping by lax-goalie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe if advertisers stopped making commercials that are crap, they wouldn't need to lock us out of fast forward during commercials.

    It can be done. How many Super Bowls have had commercials better than the game?

  3. Re:Cannot? by badasscat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What exactly does "Cannot be avoided" mean? do they actually think they can prevent people from skipping the commercials?

    Um, yes?

    It's very easy. Encode the video in Flash and do a php call so the file name is never revealed - not even the url to the directory where the file *is* is revealed. Can't be downloaded (even by workaround methods), and controls can be set in the embedded player so you can't fast-forward (my guess is the last part of the article submission is wrong - you can maybe rewind and then ff to the last point you were at in the video, but you won't be able to skip ahead).

    The big video sites don't do this right now, but it is possible, and a lot of smaller sites do do it. We'll see if ABC is smart enough, but judging by the way they describe this, it sounds like they've figured it out.

    I've been saying TV stations should do this exact thing for years. You want to stop "piracy" of your shows? Put them online for free. Show the ads; we know you've gotta make money. But don't force me to pay 2 bucks just because I wasn't home at the time the show was on and presumably don't have (or can't afford?) TiVo.

    Now you've got a choice, at least with the bigger shows. Pay 2 bucks and watch them ad-free, or pay nothing and watch with ads. Pretty much the way it should be, if you ask me.

    The only question left is what sort of quality we'll get. I mean considering HDTV is free, then ideally the online version should match that quality - but no way it will for reasons of bandwidth. Hopefully it'll at least match what you can find on file sharing sites, though... if they really are serious about doing away with that sort of thing, especially.