Posted on 08/25/2010 10:15:45 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- After two failed attempts to reinvent the set-top box and a go-nowhere monthly "best of TV" subscription plan, Apple(AAPL) is now hoping a buck-a-show rental service will be a winner. But so far, only Disney(DIS) seems willing to play along with Apple's idea to use iTunes to charge users 99 cents for two-day rentals of some TV shows, according to Bloomberg Businessweek and a number of follow-up reports.
Kudos to Apple for repeatedly banging its head against the TV industry, but unlike the sweeping success that iTunes was for the record business, video programming is an entirely different prospect. Apple, like others before including Microsoft(MSFT), Cisco(CSCO), TimeWarner(TWX) and AOL(AOL), had high hopes of building the ultimate bridge between the Net and TV. For Apple, which craves control and loathes the anarchy of Internet, the natural solution is to push an iTunes approach. But here's where Apple's plan hits the wall. Unlike music, where record companies had no way to sell songs in a market awash in free "stolen" tunes, the TV industry has not lost control of its programming. And more importantly, Internet broadcasts are a source of revenue. Under the existing system, users can watch current shows free on the networks' Web site or the industry's joint-venture site Hulu. The typical one-hour TV show has between four and seven ads that play during the program. Ads equal money.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
the TV industry HAS lost control of the programs. Any episode of any show (recently) is available online.
Some orphan series are around but are pretty rare.
I hate the idea Apple feels the need to dictate it wants to control the internet. The way they control music with the iTunes crap I can’t believe people fall for Apple and their proprietary ways. Can you people not see this company as it is at it’s roots? It’s not a conservatively led company by any means and will go so far to say Jobs and co are liberals of the highest order and why would YOU want to support liberals like this by buying into their products/services. I may eat my words, but I will never own an i-Anything.
You would have to PAY ME to watch most of the television shows that are on today. Thank god for the Food Channel, History Cannel, Military Channel, and NASCAR.
What they don’t understand is why people watch TV. You can do it all you want with no out of pocket expense.
You’re broke? Turn on the TV.
You’re bored? Turn on the TV.
Girlfiend Dump you? Turn on the TV.
I’ll never pay per show. I’ll go get another more interesting job.
Then I’ll be able to afford an even better girlfriend.
ping
Great! Now I can catch up on some of those Gilligan’s Island episodes I missed!...............
Way too expensive, especially when you compare to OTA (free) or cable ($40/month but tens of thousands of shows available). If your wife likes a soap opera and wants to see it via iTV, get ready for $22 per month for just that soap!
I wish one of the networks or their affiliates would stream old episodes of “Wild Wild West”.
Loved that show when I was a kid, and there are probably episodes I missed.
Old TV shows like The Twilight Zone, The Lone Ranger, I Dream of Jeannie etc are all available online..but tightly controlled by the same old TV companies at sites like HULU. Any site that illegally makes them availabe for viewing is taken down by the TV companies sooner or later.
As for live TV shows which are shown illegally online, the TV companies take them doiwn very quickly. There have been so many sites that have shown Fox News live, only to be taken down by Fox's lawyers the moment they hear of the site. The TV companies are still very much in control of their programs.
I like that tv show also, but a couple of years ago I saw some of the episodes and I will tell you that it was so bad it was funny.
“Plus the XBOX 360 is now being used as a full fledged IPTV in countries like the UK “
Sony has something similar to this for the PS3 in the UK. I really wish something like this would hit the USA. I am sick of having a cablebox ... it’s useless.
Then again, I am getting rid of cable once my contract expires. Netflix streaming and OTA HDTV is more than enough for me.
And a bigger TV.
Yeah, AppleTV seems more like a solution waiting for a problem than something that is actually useful. 720p and lacking anything extra that the game consoles can’t really provide makes it a very boring product.
I have a PS3(not trying to pick a fight) with netflix and have setup the media server to play movies off of any network enabled HD in the house. That doesn’t even include any games that I can also play. I can’t see the benefit of Apple TV personally.
Nonsense. Record companies could have developed business models that work on the Internet (Apple did with iTunes); they simply chose not to.
This is probably one of those cases where the personal interests of senior management don't align with the overall interests of the companies they run. Managers have an incentive to cling to established ways as long as possible (it's less work and doesn't involve any action that can be singled out as cause for blame) and to let problems fester (ditto on the "less work" thing, and it creates another scapegoat -- "music pirates" in this case -- for anything that goes wrong).
Apple has admitted they’re just playing around with the Apple TV. Strange for them to put out a product without a solid profitable plan for it in the larger ecosystem, and without anything really innovative to bring people to it.
If Apple’s now saying they’re serious, and this is all they’ve got, then they’re toast in this market.
so far the networks are entirely unsuccessful in preventing “alternate” distribution.
How? When iTunes came out it was the most lenient legal music outlet. The labels required DRM, but Jobs got them to bend over backwards for fair use, such as copying to iPods, burning CDs and streaming to other computers. Later, after iTunes became a big music retailer, Jobs wrestled with the labels from a position of power to allow DRM-free music. The legal DRM-free music stores you see out there today exist because Jobs had already cracked the labels to allow it.
Jobs didn't do this out of any altruistic consideration for you though. He did it because DRM sucks and he didn't want his users to have to deal with it because it would lower their opinion of the company using it -- Apple.
At least Apple didn't consider you automatically a music pirate and give a portion of each iPod sale directly to the record labels. That was Microsoft, with the Zune.
why would YOU want to support liberals like this by buying into their products/services
Buy Windows, fund an abortion.
And this does reek of greed doesn’t it. Apple wants to charge for anything. When will we get subscriptions for iAir? I probably will only afford the bottom tier allotment of 1 cubic foot of air per month for $29.99. Looks like I’ll have to start blowing up balloons in order to get some residual O2 from the exhaled carbon dioxide I can breathe back in once my allotment is up.
Thats just the point. The networks control alternate distribution. HULU which is the biggest source of TV programs on the Internet, is controlled and owned by the networks. Sites like AOL TV {http://television.aol.com/in2tv} are also controlled by the networks. ESPN's online TV offerings, etc are also controlled by the networks(ABC owns ESPN).
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