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NBC, Apple announced iTunes TV show deal
Playlist ^ | 12/06/2005 | Peter Cohen

Posted on 12/06/2005 8:07:30 AM PST by Panerai

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To: mhking
who would want to pay for commercials?

Well, not me, but a lot of people buy cable TV.

21 posted on 12/06/2005 11:07:12 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Well, not me, but a lot of people buy cable TV.

Actually, since the only show I like on cable is Battlestar Galactica (and even that is treading on thin ice with its weak 2nd season). And Comca$t has horrible picture quality for the SciFi channel, and is about to up their rates again (7% or so).

So, with this new legal option, I can pitch my cable TV! I'll save about $250 - $300 a year by downloading just the shows I like, rather than pay for the collosal wasteland of cable every month.

22 posted on 12/06/2005 11:11:29 AM PST by Yossarian (The media is now simply running a 24/7 soap opera with Dubya cast as the arch villain.)
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To: Mr. Blonde
"Or as soon as they start letting you load your own content on the iPod."

You can load your own content if it is encoded in the proper format.

23 posted on 12/06/2005 11:15:36 AM PST by Boss_Jim_Gettys (Willing to compromise...NOT)
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To: Boss_Jim_Gettys

Really? I had read that all video had to be bought from the iTunes store. If that isn't the a video iPod will be even harder to turn down.


24 posted on 12/06/2005 11:17:46 AM PST by Mr. Blonde (You know, Happy Time Harry, just being around you kinda makes me want to die.)
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To: Yossarian
Comca$t has horrible picture quality for the SciFi channel

The video iPod has a 320x240 display. Consider that in your choice.

25 posted on 12/06/2005 11:20:45 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: js1138
I have difficulty imagining a TV show worth watching twice.

I enjoy seeing old episodes of Cheers, the Andy Griffith Show, the Twilight Zone ('One for the Angels' was my favorite), the Outer Limits, Thriller, (Boris Karloff hosted), the Bob Newhart Show, Dragnet, Emergency (the show that got me interested in being a firefighter), and, of course, the original Bugs Bunny Show.

I guess I'm just a bourgeois kind of guy. I'm not sure I believe you though. I think you stay up late at night and watch the New Scooby Doo Mysteries (especially the ones with Sonny and Cher and the Harlem Globetrotters.) And I bet you watch them twice.

26 posted on 12/06/2005 11:22:16 AM PST by Richard Kimball (Tenure is the enemy of excellence.)
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To: Mr. Blonde

I don't have an iPod, but found a public domain copy of one of the old Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies in MPG format. iTunes took it right in, and played it just like it was made for it.


27 posted on 12/06/2005 11:24:20 AM PST by Richard Kimball (Tenure is the enemy of excellence.)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Well, not me, but a lot of people buy cable TV.

You know what I mean. You certainly don't pay for 'em in a pay-per-view situation. That's what this is closest to.

28 posted on 12/06/2005 11:24:43 AM PST by mhking (The world needs a wake up call gentlemen...we're gonna phone it in.)
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To: Panerai

Let's not kid ourselves. This is Apple's entry into the porn industry. Look for iPorn at a junior high near you.


29 posted on 12/06/2005 11:30:52 AM PST by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: mhking

A couple of weeks ago, I missed "Lost", and my DVR screwed up and didn't record it (egads!) Then I found this service. Downloaded the episode the next day, hooked my laptop up to my big screen TV, and although it wasn't HD, it looked darn good for coming off a PC.

This is the age of miracle and wonder...


30 posted on 12/06/2005 11:31:32 AM PST by Warren_Piece (Three-toed sloth)
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To: Mr. Blonde
Or as soon as they start letting you load your own content on the iPod.

You can do that now - you just need a program to convert your DVD's to MP4 format. A number of them are available on the Internet for about $29.

31 posted on 12/06/2005 11:32:48 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ("When government does too much, nobody else does much of anything." -- Mark Steyn)
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To: js1138

Look at Amazon's best selling dvds, almost all of them are tv series. So a lot of people want to watch shows again and again. Right now 10 of the top 25 are shows. And that is a low number.


32 posted on 12/06/2005 11:32:59 AM PST by Mr. Blonde (You know, Happy Time Harry, just being around you kinda makes me want to die.)
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To: Mr. Blonde
Look here...

Link

33 posted on 12/06/2005 11:34:28 AM PST by Boss_Jim_Gettys (Willing to compromise...NOT)
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To: Mr. Blonde
I had read that all video had to be bought from the iTunes store.

Getting video onto your iPod.

34 posted on 12/06/2005 11:35:05 AM PST by ThinkDifferent (I am a leaf on the wind)
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To: Panerai

Battlestar Galactica, excellent. Now they just need to do something about the lousy 320x240 resolution. (Yeah, that's the size of the iPod display, but they should offer better resolution for watching on monitors and TVs).


35 posted on 12/06/2005 11:38:08 AM PST by ThinkDifferent (I am a leaf on the wind)
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To: Panerai

A subscription model would work much better for TV shows. Is anyone really going to spend $40 a month just for the Tonight Show?

If they really want any download service to succeed, they need to make HD content available. $1.99 for a video in 720p h.264 that you could watch on your computer would work. H.264 high def content looks awesome, although it requires very fast computers.


36 posted on 12/06/2005 11:45:20 AM PST by MediaMole
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To: ThinkDifferent

When I watched my downloaded "Lost" episode, it looked great. And keep in mind I'm used to seeing it in HD. But there's no way they could encode it as HD, because even high-speed downloads would take hours.

Anyway, I was happy with it.


37 posted on 12/06/2005 11:48:33 AM PST by Warren_Piece (Three-toed sloth)
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To: ThinkDifferent

They do...Try it befer ya schtart bishing!


38 posted on 12/06/2005 11:48:56 AM PST by papertyger
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To: Izzy Dunne
The video iPod has a 320x240 display. Consider that in your choice.

Crisp and clear digital 320x240 should equal a staticy 640x480 analog. A fly in the ointment maybe dark scenes, which frankly makes up a lot of BSG - either the H.264 algorithm isn't good at it, or the person overseeing encoding must do a better job on the examples I've seen.

The thing that I've noticed is that while picture quality is nice and isn't unimportant, the story is more the thing with TV shows.

I know I'm not the only one who is hanging onto cable just for a show or two, and maybe enough of us dropping will force them to upgrade picture quality AND drop rates and/or switch to an ala-carte program plan.

39 posted on 12/06/2005 11:55:32 AM PST by Yossarian (The media is now simply running a 24/7 soap opera with Dubya cast as the arch villain.)
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To: mhking
I just downloaded Episode 1 of "Adam-12".

I was struck by the video clarity and near-perfect audio. It was a big improvement over the snowy black-and-white TV of my youth when I was constantly adjusting the TV antenna. I haven't watched Adam-12 in decades and it brought back a lot of good memories.

At $1.99 a show, I don't think I'll be collecting the entire series. But I think the price of these older shows will eventually come way down once the technology takes off.

Right now, this video downloading thing is still in the "early-adopter" phase. But I'm telling you, it's going to be huge. In a few years, most people will get their video content "a la carte" and TV as we know it today will be a relic of the past.

The networks know it too and this is why they are suddenly clamoring to get in on the ground floor with iTunes.

40 posted on 12/06/2005 5:37:44 PM PST by SamAdams76 (What Would Howard Roarke Do?)
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