NBC to Offer Free Video Download Service 229
Damocles the Elder writes "Apparently NBC realized that people on the internet do watch TV, because after breaking up with Apple over iTunes pricing schemes, they're setting up their own free service." From the article "NBC first contracted with Amazon to offer its programs for sale to downloading devices like MP3 players. Now it is establishing its own downloading service, which NBC executives say they expect to become a viable competitor to iTunes.
"With the creation of this new service, we are acknowledging that now, more than ever, viewers want to be in control of how, when and where they consume their favorite entertainment," said Vivi Zigler, the executive vice president of NBC Digital Entertainment. "Not only does this feature give them more control, but it also gives them a higher quality video experience."
Wait for comcast! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, whatever... (Score:5, Insightful)
...
Commercials will be embedded in the programs and viewers will not be able to skip through them.
From free to pay...eventually? (Score:5, Insightful)
Commercials will be embedded in the programs and viewers will not be able to skip through them...
Further into the article:
But NBC intends to transform the service into a model similar to iTunes by the middle of 2008 -- that is, consumers will pay NBC directly to download episodes of the shows. "We did this to eliminate the middleman," said Jeff Gaspin, the president of NBC's digital division.
That's fine and dandy, but will the paid version of the episode come complete with ads or is this just an interim solution until the paid model is in place, because I sure as hell wouldn't want to pay for episodes if they contained unskippable ads.
pirates win (Score:4, Insightful)
make all media pirate proof 100%, make no money. the slightest crack in the system and you make no money.
simply release your media in a format everyone can enjoy for free in a quality higher then the pirates are putting out, slip in some well targeted adverts, hey presto you just won over a market you had no chance of ever having previously and your making money from it.
Commercials you can't skip? (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article:
You can't skip through the commercials? Can't transfer them to a disk or other computer? Any bets on how long this will last?
But maybe this will help...
Right, because online payment systems are magical. Only the top wizards understand the spells that make them work. That's why nobody except Apple has secure software to allow payment by credit cards: Steve Jobs is the toppest of the top wizards.
I suspect it'll only apply to US and maybe europe (Score:4, Insightful)
Because i was accessing it from a non-american IP address, they locked me out, citing no advertisers for my region (New Zealand)
Talking of which, they previous/already offered the ability to watch previous episodes of heroes before, what exactly has changed?
Isn't this just a rehash of what they already have, just with plans to turn it into an iTunes competitor later next year?
Re:AntiTrust yet again.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Now the trouble is, companies hate competing, so ideally, Congress will ignore the whining of these big companies as they ask for laws to shield them from competition. It should also look aggressively at these companies if they try to work together to avoid competing with each other.
This should be interesting to watch.
Re:Yeah, whatever... (Score:5, Insightful)
Naturally, everyone has to do their own thing! (Score:2, Insightful)
I think what's he's saying (Score:4, Insightful)
This is probably some sort of PR spin over the fact that NBC is most likely going to use Windows Media Player to base their options, and this is a feature that a marketing person would tout as important. And at first glance, I think Joe Average will see this as important too, since it will cut down on those dirty hackers and pirates from stealing music.
Re:I suspect it'll only apply to US and maybe euro (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'm really happy to hear this (Score:2, Insightful)
instead of buying an episode from iTunes and watching it (maybe even with out commercials) as much as you like, you will get 7 days to watch the commercial content. You can't even fast forward these things.
truely a TV executives wet dream.
this is just like the stupid lillypond thing. WMA, DRM, crap.
but I'm sure that this will stop piracy. yar.
Re:From free to pay...eventually? (Score:3, Insightful)
Commercials will be embedded in the programs and viewers will not be able to skip through them...
Thus, no one running a real OS will be able to watch this crap. Problem solved.
Re:Yeah, whatever... (Score:5, Insightful)
*Except in "Pat and the Armed Post Office Robbery" where Pat foils a terrorist plot to rob the Post Office and use the proceeds to blow up the viaduct, or in "Pat goes Postal" which should be self explanatory...
Gee, too bad no one has tried this before... (Score:5, Insightful)
Suuure. A viable competitor - but without a quarter of the video content, no music, probably crap software, lousy integrated experience, and no iPod support. It's as if they just opened a new brick and mortar NBC store which sells laser disks.
Let me know how that goes for you.
Fragmenting the market is a poor strategy (Score:3, Insightful)
Although I suspect this is more of an attempt by NBC to get people to pay to watch commercials, it's ultimately going to be bad for their business and the on-demand market in general. It's almost never a win to fragment a potential market, particularly for the consumer but who really cares about them anymore? With entertainment consolidated to a few major players, the consumer is an abstract concept with no form or value as an individual.
Ultimately this will prove to be a fruitless endeavor. You can't drive an internet market by conscription. The history of the internet is littered with the corpses of companies that thought the same thing. Imagine needing a set-top box to tune in an individual TV station. NBC and CBS use the same type box, but you need a different one for ABC and Fox. WB has their own. It seems silly in any other market context, but that's what Apple and NBC are trying to do.
Personally, I don't think the big media players are ever going to catch on. The farther down the road we go, the big media companies actually seem to be devolving. Fortunately that will open up markets for smarter players. Production companies with a leaner cost structure and the freedom of thought to consider product placement, co-branding and a host of other revenue streams rather than a strict commercial model.
I gave a keynote at a NAB convention a couple years ago about the likely impact of the internet on media distribution and the opportunities for new revenue channels. Got a lot of head nodding but when I talked to them afterwards it was pretty clear it wasn't sinking in. They were still trying to fit the internet into the revenue models they already knew.
Re:From free to pay...eventually? (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh well, guess I'll keep paying my blood money to the cable company and downloading the improved versions from the usual places. (Improved meaning I can get it whenever I want, with no DRM, no commercials, and in a format that I like.)
Re:Yeah, whatever... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:AntiTrust yet again.... (Score:5, Insightful)
As proved by MS. Actually, Windows has improved leaps and bounds since Linux^h^h^h^h^hMac OS took off^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^hstarted eating into their market share
There you go. Fixed that for you.
Seriously... Apple is poised to become a fierce competitor once again. Look at the shares of MacBook sales. Linux? I know this is Slashdot and I know we're all pulling for Linux but honstly, "The Year of Linux" is a looooooooooooooong way off.
Commercials (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:AntiTrust yet again.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Please. The number of macbooks that are NOT running OS X is not going to be statistically significant.
Re:Commercials you can't skip? (Score:2, Insightful)