Michael Passman: No TV for iTunes?
Michael PassmanSeptember 24th, 2007
Good news, nerds. Thanks to NBC's recent decision to dump iTunes and start its own pseudo-download service, NBC Direct, you'll soon be able to download free episodes of "Bionic Woman" to watch at your leisure. Well, kind of.
When NBC Direct fully launches sometime in October, it will allow users to download certain NBC TV shows - including "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Heroes" - to their computers. But there are noteworthy stipulations. Downloads from NBC Direct will be loaded with a built-in self-destruct timer, which will only allow viewers to watch shows within one week of downloading them. The shows will also have commercials that viewers will not be able to bypass and should have an airtight digital-rights management-control system that will limit them to Windows-based computers.
But in case you don't spend your days frantically refreshing the RSS feeds on your favorite TV blogs, let me bring you up to speed on how NBC got here. At the end of August, NBC announced it was severing ties with Apple and would not be offering its new fall shows for download. According to tvsquad.com, Apple cited NBC's inability to determine its own episode pricing - somewhere in the ridiculous $4.99-per-episode range - as the network's cause for abandoning iTunes. NBC countered by saying it left iTunes because of a lack of content-packaging options. Regardless, NBC isn't adding any new content to iTunes. In a few months, all of its existing content will be stripped from Apple's servers.
Not one to go to the dance alone, NBC quickly sought out Amazon.com's Unbox server as its new home for episode downloads. The network loaded four of its upcoming pilots onto Unbox and gave them away for free as a way to attract people to the server and upcoming shows.
Somewhere in that time frame, it seems NBC decided it needed a new, more permanent solution. While the network has been offering free streaming episodes of some of its series for over a year now, iTunes downloads satisfied a substantial but misguided consumer base. Sure, Unbox is an option to retain those customers, but it's nowhere near as popular as iTunes and doesn't support Mac OS X. It seems unlikely the NBC suits are going to let their ready-to-download shows wither away on a second tier server. This is where NBC Direct is supposed to come in.
But again, NBC Direct is clearly not a replacement for iTunes. It's positioning itself as a hybrid between streaming shows and downloads, which should leave streaming users pleasantly surprised but iTunes users unsatisfied. Of course, the network has a solution for this.
In what has been vaguely described as "other business models" in an NBC press release, NBC will be altering its Direct service within months. The long-term plan appears to involve the inclusion of Mac-compatible HD downloads. These downloads might be available on a download-to-own basis, a subscription package or otherwise.
It's unclear whether NBC Direct will be phasing out its free downloads once its upgraded service launches in 2008, but it's not unreasonable to believe this may happen. Along with Fox, NBC is working on a new streaming site, Hulu, which might take the reigns from NBC.com's streaming service. The cynic in me has a hard time believing NBC Direct will continue to provide free downloads on a regular basis once its new streaming and premium download services are up and running.
While NBC was busy blowing up its Internet-distribution platform, ABC announced its own streaming agreement with AOL. There seems to be little benefit from the AOL deal - ABC already streams through their own website - but the eight people who still support AOL (seriously Mom, stop paying for that crap, it's useless) will have to click two times less on their browser to find "Ugly Betty" reruns.
This has all gone down in a few weeks time. With almost all of the major networks making significant moves in the last couple weeks, I can't help but be concerned for the long-term relevance of iTunes TV downloads. The networks have clearly demonstrated their willingness to develop their own proprietary software, and soon enough Apple may be usurped from the market it created.
It was only two years ago when Steve Jobs announced TV downloads via iTunes for his new iPod and convinced the public it should expand its television viewing beyond conventional means. Now it looks like the godfather of Internet TV might have to make some major concessions if he wants to sell anything at all.
- Passman's iPod is filled to the brim with "House" and "Fraggle Rock." E-mail him at mpass@umich.edu.
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:35:20 -0500