Network TV goes off the air.
Don’t get too out of sorts, it will be a long time before broadcast TV dies. Satellite radio and podcasting still haven’t supplanted radio, and I imagine that will happen first. Instead, the big three are exploring digital distribution deals.
ABC (along with Disney Channel) were first out of the gates with their collaboration with Apple’s iTunes music store. Episodes of shows such as Lost, Desperate Housewives, That’s So Raven, and The Suite Life are available for purchase now at $1.99 per show. They are typically available a day or two after the show airs.
Whereas downloadable video content was not new when Apple introduced this new offering, it did solidify its mainstream popularity. In its first 20 days of selling downloadable video content, 1 million purchases were made.
NBC and CBS are taking a bit of a different angle on shows for sale. Full details are still forthcoming, but it looks from initial reports that they will both be offering on demand availability over cable/satellite hardware instead of digital downloads. CBS has a deal with Comcast and NBC with DirecTV to offer shows for $0.99. Both networks will have content starting approximately in the January 2006 timeframe. You’ll have access to shows like Law & Order, The Office, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Amazing Race, and Survivor.
The Seattle PI reported about the Associated Press entering into a deal with Microsoft to offer its member organizations a free daily video feed of self provided content supported by advertising.
Coming up also is In2TV, brought to us by AOL and WB. They'll be offering up DVD quality, full screen capable, on demand content of several shows at the pace of several hundred episodes per month.
Some questions arise from all of these new deals. Will the available shows have an expiration date from time of purchase? How many will be able to be stored at one time? Will HDTV versions be made available? It will be quite some time before we get good answers. Until then, we’ll have to be satisfied with the ABC/Disney/Apple offering, even though it is of marginal video quality.
Look for on demand and downloadable content deals and offerings from major content providers to pick up steam in the next quarter.
Add all of this “mainstream” content to the virtual cornucopia of vodcasts (video podcasts) and you’ll soon be filling up all the space on that brand new video iPod you just bought. And don’t forget, Network Magic will help you easily share all of your purchased content between the machines in your house.
If you have a favorite (family friendly) video podcast, video website, etc please comment below and share it with the community.
Comments
Check out http://www.vodcasts.tv/. Vodcasts.tv is the first vodcast directory, and a great site to find vodcasts, vodcast feeds and vodcast software.
Posted by: Cindy | November 25, 2005 01:53 PM
Looks like Brightcove recieved US$16M in funding!
http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-5966130.html
Posted by: myko | November 22, 2005 02:38 PM
Network TV has finally realized people want to watch shows whenever they want instead of being handcuffed to a TV on a certain day and time.
Posted by: Das | November 22, 2005 11:52 AM
I agree - playing catchup now and charging for what's been readily downloadable free of charge on a regular basis for years now won't gain much traction.
Maybe they should allow the downloads for free, but keep the commercials in the stream? Better distribution & advertising revenue in the long run.
Posted by: Alex Ferguson | November 22, 2005 11:41 AM
two new companies trying to take over video from the networks: brightcove.com and youtv.com
Posted by: qwex | November 22, 2005 10:15 AM
$1.99 per episode is a shameless ripoff for an episode of Lost. Not that the show is not good, but multiply that times the amount of shows in a season, and how much a dvd of the entire season sells for and you end up paying much more for the lesser quality of the Itunes downloads. People really are suckers.
Posted by: Arkayz | November 22, 2005 09:55 AM