NBC and iTunes Offering Free Conviction Pilot Episode?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Apple's iTunes Music Store has updated with a new show from NBC called Conviction. Conviction is a new mid season legal drama (http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/01/23/a_preview_of_nbc_s_mid_season_shows) from NBC which focuses on young district attorneys. The show will be premiering after the Winter Olympics.

NBC and Apple, however, look like they are experimenting with digital distribution methods to promote this new television show. The Conviction show is labeled "Free" for the "World Premiere Pilot Episode + Extras" on iTunes' NBC category (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewCustomPage?name=pageNetworkPage_NBC). (The iTunes link for the show (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=125453900&s=143441) remains empty at this time as the show has not yet premiered.)

Apple/Sci-Fi previously offered (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2005/12/20051222223152.shtml) a half-hour Battlestar Galactica special for free to catch viewers up on the show before the winter season. Meanwhile, CBS and Yahoo similarly offered free streams (http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C99287%7C1%7C,00.html) of Two and a Half Men (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/two_and_a_half_men/) and How I Met Your Mother (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/) in late December/early January to drive interest. Both shows reportedly saw ratings boosts following the free distribution.

While iTunes TV show sales do represent an additional revenue stream for networks, providing some free content could drive interest and ratings for new shows, increasing long term revenue from television advertising and syndication.

[arn]

this makes sense to me. I think all pilot episodes should be free. You want to hook viewers. I recently saw the pilot of Love Monkey, which I liked and told my friends to watch it... but there wasn't an easy way for people to watch the pilot if they missed it.

(Love Monkey, btw, has now been canceled after 3 episodes, which makes little sense)

[muffinman]

YAY! Now the kids with no money can watch quality content on iTunes! YAY!:D

[p0intblank]

Excellent! I hope this is a hint of things to come. I agree with arn. Offering free pilot episodes of TV shows is an excellent way of bringing in more viewers.

As for downloading this free pilot episode of Conviction... is it actually there yet? I'm on the official page, but it's not showing up in the list of episodes.

Edit: Duh, never mind. It actually has to premier first for it to be available to download, huh? ;) It would be neat if iTunes users got some kind of exclusive "first look" features now and then, though. :)

[cyberddot]

Now people without television can watch pilots! I really don't miss having television, but between Netflix and iTunesVS it's been entirely too easy to find out what all the latest TV hubub is about.

Hockey please. Game on.

[skwert]

man...nbc sure has been pushing this show. hey, it worked on me. i can't wait for it to premiere...it looks top notch. i think it's a great idea to release it for free, especially because it's a pilot.

[EricNau]

I love free things. :)

...And this is very smart of NBC, maybe this will hook me and I'll download (or at least watch) the rest of the series. (but since it's nbc, it probably isn't very good)

[asherman13]

Tomorrow is a Tuesday....and by Tuesday I mean New Content Tuesday, not "Powerbook G5 Tuesday"...yay for free episodes!

[.Andy]

Wow another legal drama! How imaginitive! Let me guess......

Young, well dressed, and impossibly sexy/handsome lawyer types.
Lead couple of females and a couple of males. Token gay/black guy/asian.
One female who's highly ambitious but is held back by glass ceiling.
Sexual innuendo and liberal amounts of shagging.
Regular soul searching bar scene/drinks after work.
Taskmaster boss who works them to the bone but is a softy on the inside.
Topical criminal cases that challenge their fears/personal demons.
..........

p.s. Cool it's on iTMS though :D!

[spacehog371]

there is a lot of stuff on there that doesn't actually have stuff to download. There is also Americas funniest home videos... but, no actual videos to download. Teasing me... not cool.

[ebteksystems2]

The episode downloaded just fine for me...

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=125561787&p=125453900&s=143441

[jcohen919190]

Yup. No problems here. I am about to watch them. There are three items.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=125561787&p=125453900&s=143441

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=126360857&p=125453900&s=143441

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=126358794&p=125453900&s=143441

And the main link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=126360857&p=125453900&s=143441

[yellow5]

there is a lot of stuff on there that doesn't actually have stuff to download. There is also Americas funniest home videos... but, no actual videos to download. Teasing me... not cool.

This is because they update the store around 12:00-1:00 AM Tuesday morning Eastern Time.

So the content is just being added and it usually takes a while before the whole store is updated.

EDIT: I just noticed the ESPN SportsCenter Ads are now FREE.. They have been available, but they cost $1.99

Check em out.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=120606257

[Staffroomer]

This is really cool.. Who needs TV anymore? Seriously! :D

[Anonymous Freak]

So the individual download links work fine, but the 'GET SEASON' button is broken.

As for the ESPN ads? They're not that funny... (Oh well, they're free. I've got every other free iTunes download...)

[yellow5]

This is really cool.. Who needs TV anymore? Seriously! :D

Especially when my display is larger & of a higher quality than my TV!

[bankshot]

Wow another legal drama! How imaginitive!

No kidding! I lost track of how many there were after more than one CSI popped up. I literally have no clue, and really have no interest in watching them. They all look the same to me. Seems like primetime TV is: reality (is it finally dying down a bit? yay!), crappy sitcoms, legal/crime/hospital drama. Ugh.

That's one of the bad things about entertainment being a competition-based market. Everyone loves to talk about how a free market with competition produces better products, but certainly not when it comes to entertainment. It's all about mass appeal, the common denominator, and when the rare new idea works, it gets copied and beaten to death for the next 5-10 years. Bleh.

That's why I end up justifying the cost of HBO even though I watch very few movies on it -- original stuff like Curb Your Enthusiasm makes it worth the price. Hmm, it's kind of like the Mac of television, a premium product appealing to those who are sick of the same old junk. :D

But, uhh, yay to iTunes for bringing us free mass market entertainment to get hooked on. Or something. :p

[yoda13]

The more content the better, and making pilots free is a great idea IMHO. I do wish that Fox would get as involved as NBC as I would love to see 24 and Prison Break on the iTMS. At any rate, Conviction looks good to me, mainly because it has been beaten into my head during the Olympic telecasts. I will have to give it a chance.:cool:

[jmarsland]

Is the "World Premier" like the World Series ie excluding everywhere in the world except North America?

[nagromme]

I think it would be smart to offer the first 3 episodes of every season of every show for free. Why? So that people have another shot at making the show a success.

Also, all episodes of Battlestar Galactica should be free. Why? Because I say so :)

[gauchogolfer]

Is it possible to search for 'free' as a characteristic on iTunes? I just got the premier and SportsCenter spots, and was wondering if there's an easy way to find out about other free content.

[ezekielrage_99]

Dang I wish we could get TV Shows on the iTunes Australian store.

[starwxrwx]

is there anyway to download free stuff from the US store if you don't live in the US?

[stuBCN75]

is there anyway to download free stuff from the US store if you don't live in the US?

It does not look like it :(
I was just about to ask the same thing. It's a shame the same video content is not available outside the US. I suppose it's down to the usual copyright hand bag fighting.

Anyone want to email me the free episode ?

[ezekielrage_99]

is there anyway to download free stuff from the US store if you don't live in the US?

Yeah but you need to have a credit card with a US billing address apparently.

[Stewie]

Especially when my display is larger & of a higher quality than my TV!
Too bad the quality of the iTunes TV shows suck. At least if you try to watch them on anything other then a tiny iPod screen.

[Porchland]

this makes sense to me. I think all pilot episodes should be free. You want to hook viewers. I recently saw the pilot of Love Monkey, which I liked and told my friends to watch it... but there wasn't an easy way for people to watch the pilot if they missed it.

(Love Monkey, btw, has now been canceled after 3 episodes, which makes little sense)

Clever show. Considering the ratings of shows like "Scrubs" and "Arrested Development" (cancelled) clever humor is apparently a fatal flaw.

I hope iTunes becomes a destination for smaller shows that may not draw big enough ratings to get full season orders but have enough appeal to work online. Apple is in a fantastic position to present shows developed specifically for online distribution.

Now about that set-top box...

[joemama]

So the individual download links work fine, but the 'GET SEASON' button is broken.

As for the ESPN ads? They're not that funny... (Oh well, they're free. I've got every other free iTunes download...)

These are the bad ones too, with all the new, lame-duck anchors. What I want to see are the old ones with Craig Kilbourne, like "Defense wins championships......."

Would I pay for those, of course not, but they should be up. Anything on TV should be FREE on iTunes. I am holding firm on that.

[Porchland]

Not a whole lot added, but I'm glad to see new shows popping up every Tuesday now.

* "America's Funnies Home Videos": 13 episodes. Not exactly sure if this is the current season; the release date says 2001.

* "Conviction" pilot, music video and behind-the-scenes clip. Free. Online-only content like behind-the-scenes, deleted scenes, webisodes, etc., are a great way to drive interest in a show, particularly if it has the cache of being exclusive. More please.

* "Late Night with Conan O'Brien": Some new clips, but still no new episodes. He's on hiatus fo the Olympics, so maybe this is an indication that daily episodes are coming in March or April.

* Monk Celebrity Playlist: I like these character-written lists. Michael and Dwight from "The Office" have done really funny ones. (Looks like the this actually posted last week, but I just noticed it today.)

I'm still holding out hope that the Jerry Bruckheimer celebrity playlist a few weeks ago means the "CSI" franchise and other new titles are coming soon. Apple is also starting to feature more Celebrity Playlists from actors, so it's looking very TV all the way around.

[themacman]

This is because they update the store around 12:00-1:00 AM Tuesday morning Eastern Time.

So the content is just being added and it usually takes a while before the whole store is updated.

EDIT: I just noticed the ESPN SportsCenter Ads are now FREE.. They have been available, but they cost $1.99

Check em out.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=120606257
no they have always been free, i downloaded all of them over a week ago.

[nbs2]

I was going to mention the ESPN ads have been free for a while - although when I first downladed them, they only had three up there. But that's OT.

My only disappointment with this being free is that it looks like crap. I'm sorry but I'm sick of another legal drama. I get enough of that crap at school. I can't even take L&O anymore...ugh....I know that if I can't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything....but I really am annoyed by this.

On a broader note, I agree thoroughly with arn's comments - letting out the pilot for free would be a brilliant move. Without trying, I can think of a couple shows that I really wasn't that interested in, but after watching the pilot on DVD, I would have loved to watch the season on the air (Firefly and Lost).

[jessica.]

this makes sense to me. I think all pilot episodes should be free. You want to hook viewers. I recently saw the pilot of Love Monkey, which I liked and told my friends to watch it... but there wasn't an easy way for people to watch the pilot if they missed it.

(Love Monkey, btw, has now been canceled after 3 episodes, which makes little sense)
I totally agree with arn. Love Monkey is the one show I also got hooked on after seeing the pilot. I am sort of sad to see it go as it really promoted new artists as well.

[velocityofjack]

Maybe I am imagining things, or maybe he wishes to not have his name displayed, but in the episode descriptions the name "Dick Wolf" is edited to "D**k Wolf."

Is his name really that obscene?

[osustudent]

Maybe I am imagining things, or maybe he wishes to not have his name displayed, but in the episode descriptions the name "Dick Wolf" is edited to "D**k Wolf."

Is his name really that obscene?

haha ... I was just going through this forum to see if anyone else picked that up! I'm downloading the show now ... hopefully its worth the bandwidth! :)

[Super Dave]

Apple/Sci-Fi previously offered (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2005/12/20051222223152.shtml) a half-hour Battlestar Galactica special for free to catch viewers up on the show before the winter season. Meanwhile, CBS and Yahoo similarly offered free streams (http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C99287%7C1%7C,00.html) of Two and a Half Men (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/two_and_a_half_men/) and How I Met Your Mother (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/) in late December/early January to drive interest.


Don't forget Monk! Apple's free episode of Monk was what got me hooked on the series!

David:cool:

[gwangung]

My only disappointment with this being free is that it looks like crap. I'm sorry but I'm sick of another legal drama. I get enough of that crap at school. I can't even take L&O anymore...ugh....I know that if I can't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything....but I really am annoyed by this.

I thought this WAS Law and Order, given the lead character/actress was a carryover from L&O:SVU....

[Jerry Spoon]

this makes sense to me. I think all pilot episodes should be free. You want to hook viewers. I recently saw the pilot of Love Monkey, which I liked and told my friends to watch it... but there wasn't an easy way for people to watch the pilot if they missed it.

(Love Monkey, btw, has now been canceled after 3 episodes, which makes little sense)
I didn't know that show had been cancelled. I happened to catch it and told a bunch of my friends to watch it too. I know a few of them started watching it.

And by the way, I can't believe that they cancel that show, but throwing out a free episode of How I Met Your Mother actually boosted ratings. IMHO that is one of the more overhyped shows of this season. Seems a little too predictable for me. Plus overall, it's not funny enough to overcome the predictability.

EDIT: And Arrested Development has been cancelled? Where's the humanity? Ok, I know it's only a tv show, but it's a darn funny one and extremely too clever for network television. Maybe another network will pick it up and give it a fighting chance.

EDIT: Wait. I can't find any confirmation that Arrested Development has been cancelled. Does someone know something that I don't? Please share.

[sartinsauce]

[QUOTE=Porchland]Clever show. Considering the ratings of shows like "Scrubs" and "Arrested Development" (cancelled) clever humor is apparently a fatal flaw.
QUOTE]


Yeah, clever humor is apparently lost on the American masses. Anyone remember Sports Night?

My theory on Scrubs is the Soprano theory. Network programming moves the show around so much that people loose track. I think it's great that Scrubs was off the schedule for a while since we got to see two new episodes a week for a while.

I think the success of clever shows like Nothern Exposure is the exception. These days, the show really has to be a hit right away to avoid cancellation. The networks don't give a show time to develop and build an audience. In the current market, a show like The X-Files would have been cancelled at mid-season and the network would have lost millions in the long run.

[macnews]

Too bad the quality of the iTunes TV shows suck. At least if you try to watch them on anything other then a tiny iPod screen.

Have you actually tried watching them on anything other than an iPod screen? I have only downloaded three videos - two BSG and one music video - but all three look good on my 20" iMac at full screen.

Are they great? No, but certainly watchable and to my wife, an average viewer non-perfectionist in terms of video quality, thinks they are close to what she sees when we watch DVD's on it.

[fixyourthinking]

For more freebies ... go to the EXCELLENT website of Gabe Dixon

www.gabedixonband.com

I was amazed when I saw his latest album completely free for download.

It's the theme song for this new show

It's called "All Will be Well"

We should try to support artists who choose this path of distribution.

[TheMasin9]

downloading now, i hope it is as good as the previews.

[yoda13]

I watch the ones I have downloaded in a window on my Powerbook while my fiance and I are laying in bed. Are they perfect? No. But they are very watchable.:)

[sartinsauce]

...while my fiance and I are laying in bed.

Wow that's romantic! She let's you get away with that?!?!;)

No wonder you're going to marry her...

[ezekielrage_99]

Maybe I am imagining things, or maybe he wishes to not have his name displayed, but in the episode descriptions the name "Dick Wolf" is edited to "D**k Wolf."

Is his name really that obscene?

Hehehehehehehe, Dick, people like dick :D

[collegetech]

Here is where Apple and the TV industry should move next. The TV industry makes many pilot episodes and shows them to a selected audience for review. As we know, they aren't very accurate.

Put all the pilot episodes on iTunes for free. When users rate the pilots, the rating is sent back to Apple. Apple compiles the rating statistics and sells that data back to the TV network. Now the TV network has feedback from hundreds of thousands, not just a few people. Those watch the pilots will be more likely to purchase future episodes.

Everyone wins! People get free TV shows, Apple gets money from the TV industry and from future downloads, and the TV industry gets market analysis from a huge demographic base.

[amateurmacfreak]

Don't forget Monk! Apple's free episode of Monk was what got me hooked on the series!

David:cool:
Um, I'm not good at catching stuff...that free episode still up? :o
Sry, OT.... so, anyways, I think it would be great to have all the pilots free. I just downloaded this one, although I have never before watched any shows of this genre....

[AMRivlin]

So the comments in the description area of the making of files say "D**k Wolf" um, why can't they say Dick.

[dotdotdot]

Thats cool - watching pilot episodes is always fun.

Google Video similarly offered this, if you went to video.google.com/chris, you used to be able to see the pilot episode of Chris Rock's show, Everybody Hates Chris...

[Anonymous Freak]

Thats cool - watching pilot episodes is always fun.

Yeah, once upon a time I was a 'client' of a marketing company that would send random things to me to test or review. One thing was the pilot episode of an ensemble sitcom. I panned it. It had an obnoxious pop theme song, stupid humor, awful laugh track.

It was called 'Friends'.

Oh well, that shows my opinion of pop culture. (The funny thing was it was a self-erasing video tape. It had a small magnet that the tape passed by as it played, erasing it, so you couldn't rewind and re-watch any part of it...)

[rt_brained]

Curses!

I was hoping to pitch "Conviction", with O.J. Simpson as a globetrotting born again evangelist preacher traveling the world's golf courses in search of evil corporate criminals, with nothing but a bible in his hand.

And also a very sharp knife in the other hand.

[bankshot]

EDIT: Wait. I can't find any confirmation that Arrested Development has been cancelled. Does someone know something that I don't? Please share.

The assumption has been that it was canceled ever since Fox reduced this season's episode count (I think it went from 22 to 13?) and declined to officially renew it for next season. They haven't officially stated it was canceled, but it's as close as you can get (apparently a Fox exec claims AD's return is "highly unlikely" (http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|99594|1|,00.html)). Of course, AD has been on the verge of cancellation every season (despite winning the Emmys!! :mad: ), so maybe there's a little hope.

If you saw one of the episodes last month, there were a number of great references to the show's actual plight and possibilities of getting picked up by HBO or Showtime:

Michael: Hello. Hey, so what’s going on with the fund-raiser?

George, Sr.: Well, I don’t think the Home Builders Organization is going to be supporting us.

Michael: Yeah, the HBO’s not going to want us. What do we do now?

George, Sr.: Well, I think it’s show time. I think we have to have a show during dinner.

Heh. I really hope it does get picked up by another channel. 'Tis such a shame that such great comedy is lost on mainstream America, and a network like Fox can't even support it when it's winning all these awards. Pathetic when they don't consider 4 million viewers to be successful enough to keep it alive. Bleh. :(

[shidoshi]

Have you actually tried watching them on anything other than an iPod screen? I have only downloaded three videos - two BSG and one music video - but all three look good on my 20" iMac at full screen.

Are they great? No, but certainly watchable and to my wife, an average viewer non-perfectionist in terms of video quality, thinks they are close to what she sees when we watch DVD's on it.

I've watched some of these fullscreen on my 20" iMac, and I think they look terrible that way. Yeah, they're watchable, but they are nowhere near good, and absolutely no replacement for actual broadcast TV.

No offense to your wife, but iTunes downloads aren't anywhere close to DVD quality. iTunes downloads start off at half the resolution of a DVD transfer (actually, less than that - DVD is 720x480 while iTunes downloads are, at best, 320x240), and then if you watch them fullscreen on your iMac, you're blowing them up to more around three times their resolution. With a DVD, on a regular SD TV, they are being displayed at pretty close to their base resolution, which helps a lot. Even if you play the DVD on your iMac fullscreen, which also looks bad, at least at that point the size difference is only twice the original resolution.

[Dark Horse]

Bah. Rubbish. Not available on the UK store. why why why.

And more importantly, how can the US store still reject my registration when I actually live in San Francisco and have a US billing address (but on a UK credit card).

Too clever for me...

[ezekielrage_99]

I just want Australias to get TV Shows on the iTunes store, I hope they do it soon.