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ABC To Offer Full Shows Online
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."
The entire reason television commercials exist in the first place is to create revenue for a network, therefore making television programming free. iTunes is making you pay for that programming now, effectively making it "pay" television. Commercials should be omitted. How'd ya like it if HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, etc. suddenly started showing commercials but still expected the same, or higher, monthly fees? ABC is ripping us off and setting a new standard for corporate greed in order to keep their advertisers happy.