Apple Pressuring TV Networks to Halve iTunes Episode Pricing?

[jtablet]

seems logical TV will play a huge role in iPad

Posted our thoughts yesterday at Jesus Tablet blog about why Apple will use this opportunity to own the living room. After music, computing, phones... where is the biggest commercial opportunity? Jobs says its the most important thing he's ever done? Must be hitting people where they spend time...living room and the tv dominates the living room...we expect tv to play a major role. iPad can be (along with everything else we think we know it will be) a great way to organize, record (and download?) your tv and movies...but it can't replace the big screen tv so it should work with it. Apple TV users out there care to chime in?

 

[ericinboston]

This is exactly what needs to happen. I buy zero TV shows from iTunes because 1.99 is too much for something I watch once and delete. Make it .99 and I am going to buy more content.

Right...a weekly show that runs 18 times a year is going to cost you $36. That's more than magazine subscriptions. Even $18 isn't worth it for me. Now, I also don't know if the shows come with commercials or limitations on how many times I can watch it or what computer(s) I can copy/move it to watch it, etc.

Besides, so many of us have DVRs so why not just record a bunch of stuff and test it out.

I don't see what the networks are worried about...they release their "seasons" on dvd years after the season is over. And except for the monster success shows like Seinfeld or Simpsons, who buys these collections for $29/season?! Yeah, maybe nice to own...but they are not like music cds where you will watch the show/season over and over and over and over. Music is much different than video (tv or movies). I love Terminator but I'm not going to watch it more than once every 5-10 years. Seriously. It's similar to people who love books...they *may* read a fantastic book again far into the future...but not every year or month.

-Eric

 

[donbadman]

Posted our thoughts yesterday at Jesus Tablet blog about why Apple will use this opportunity to own the living room. After music, computing, phones... where is the biggest commercial opportunity? Jobs says its the most important thing he's ever done? Must be hitting people where they spend time...living room and the tv dominates the living room...we expect tv to play a major role. iPad can be (along with everything else we think we know it will be) a great way to organize, record (and download?) your tv and movies...but it can't replace the big screen tv so it should work with it. Apple TV users out there care to chime in?

It'll need a digital TV tuner built in then. I'll bet it hasn't got one.

 

[angrynstupid]

Skip iTunes

The networks should skip iTunes and simply stream their shows for free with commercials from their own domains. They could run the same commercials as for broadcast with any affiliate commercials determined by the user's IP. That way they can jack the cost of advertising since the additional channel covers more viewers.

 

[mrgreen4242]

well, I would like to see them drop $1 off the price for new content ($1 for SD, $2 for HD) and a big drop in season pass - most of the stuff I've looked at you save maybe $2 or 3 on the season. Should be like half price. Also, old shows (say after a new season starts should drop another 25%+. Pilot eps should ALWAYS be free. Finally discounts for bundles would be a huge plus.

oh, I want sports, too. Doesn't need to be live even. I'l take it on a delay, if it's cheap enough. I'd pay more for live. I want NHL (they could use the cash!) most of all. And the OLYMPICS would be great too. I would definitely pay for some sort of Olympics package/pass.

 

[JAT]

It's all relative. Different people will have different pricing ranges.

But, thinking logical, something like HOUSE MD costs $3/ep. online. So a whole season (lets just round up) of 25 eps costs $75. You then buy the DVD later with extras for $40.

Twice the price, in essence, for now. Sans extras. Sans freedom to copy or burn as you wish.

It's free now at the network's website. Why pay at all? Other than the costs already embedded with ads, sat/cable, etc. Whenever I miss an episode of my favorite shows (cause my DVR crashed or something), I just go to their website and watch it. I haven't even LOOKed at iTunes TV episodes for sale.

 

[mrgreen4242]

The networks should skip iTunes and simply stream their shows for free with commercials from their own domains. They could run the same commercials as for broadcast with any affiliate commercials determined by the user's IP. That way they can jack the cost of advertising since the additional channel covers more viewers.

most of them do this already, for at least a large portion of their shows. ABC.com, hulu.com, etc. It sucks for most people though because they/we/I want it on the living room TV not my computer.

 

[donbadman]

The networks should skip iTunes and simply stream their shows for free with commercials from their own domains. They could run the same commercials as for broadcast with any affiliate commercials determined by the user's IP. That way they can jack the cost of advertising since the additional channel covers more viewers.

Nah, the way it needs to work is via a centralised portal that makes it as easy as possible for consumers to view content, a series of private networks is not the way to do this.
Edit to add: Google is probably the most appropriate place to do this, due to consumer use, although it would work better if it is an independent body.

 

[Maserati7200]

Let me get this straight. Basically 95% of the songs on iTunes will be $1.29 but TV shows will be $1. That makes sense.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The networks should skip iTunes and simply stream their shows for free with commercials from their own domains. They could run the same commercials as for broadcast with any affiliate commercials determined by the user's IP. That way they can jack the cost of advertising since the additional channel covers more viewers.

Networks have been streaming for a least two seasons now. And then there is Hulu, which is a joint op b/t NBC & Fox, and CBS and ABC also participate in a limited fashion.

iTunes is gravy for them. But they are concerned that lowering the "sale" price will cut into DVD/BD sales and also allow Apple to become a more dominant "player." I think the happy medium (no pun intended) is to keep the "sale" price the same but allow TV show "rentals" for $1.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Let me get this straight. Basically 95% of the songs on iTunes will be $1.29 but TV shows will be $1. That makes sense.

I detect sarcasm there. But think about it, people typically play a sony multiple times. But how many times to people watch TV shows again? Not often. That is why people turn off the TV when it's a "rerun." So bang for the buck is still with the more expensive 2 min song that will get played hundreds of times vs. the 22 or 45 min show that is viewed once.

 

[mrgreen4242]

It's free now at the network's website. Why pay at all? Other than the costs already embedded with ads, sat/cable, etc. Whenever I miss an episode of my favorite shows (cause my DVR crashed or something), I just go to their website and watch it. I haven't even LOOKed at iTunes TV episodes for sale.

I don't have cable/sat at all. I don't have an antenna, because where I live it would cost me several hundred dollars for a big roof top deal. I want TV on my TV not my iMac. Usually I just wait for DVDs, but some shows I would like faster than that, which is where iTunes comes in. I save $50 to $70 per MONTH ... Buying a couple shows per year still brings me hundreds under what I would spend on cable, with no commercials, on demand, etc etc. This is where tv veiwership is heading in the next 5 years, imo and I think Apple thinks so too.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

most of them do this already, for at least a large portion of their shows. ABC.com, hulu.com, etc. It sucks for most people though because they/we/I want it on the living room TV not my computer.

I am with that part but that is also the reason why I will not buy TV shows off iTunes.

It only works on Apple TV (piece of crap), on a computer, and iPods.

Apple TV is crap and I refuse to buy one because it only plays stuff off iTunes and does not support open codexs like Xvid. Means the rather large amount of TV shows I do have that are encoded in Xvid are worthless to it.

Now I know the 360 and I believe the PS3 on the other hand will play Xvid/Dvix codex. The next thing is they both can access drives over a network. On my computer I have shared a folder called TV. On my 360 I tell it to to a network drive and low and behold a folder called TV is there. From there I can move around and access all the TV shows saved to that hard drive and then play them off that. Those TV shows are encoded in Xvid. My current desktop will be retired to a file server when I replace it and I plan to rip my DVDs to it and let them be access by my 360 to play on my TV.

Apple does not do that and to top it off any TV shows/Movies bought from the iTunes movie store is limited to only apple products and the products that do work with TV are well pieces of crap so an automatic no go on both parts.

 

[Xero910]

^ You clearly haven't heard of something called atv flash. It will allow you to stream all the media kinds you said it doesn't support and it will let you do it without iTunes. I personally don't have a problem with its connection as most of my videos are encoded to work on it. AppleTV has one of the best interfaces if not the best interface for any of these streaming devices. The only downside to me is lack of 1080 and 802.11n.

I'm against streaming of shows. While its nice to watch, I'm a collector. I like keeping a collection of HD Shows. I love that iTunes has near BluRay quality long before a BluRay release. Sure I could download the HDTV rips but its riddled with logos and stupid promos from the Network. I want clean episodes and iTunes has that. I'm all for lower prices as it can be quite pricey (often more expensive than BluRay) and doesn't contain any of the special features. Networks would be stupid to think this would be a repeat of lowered album sales. A series is completely different. People want future episodes, I would suspect many people buy Season Passes and those that don't is because they can be grossly overpriced. Considering they air for free I don't think a lower cost is a big deal, although I can see them worried about it cannibalizing disc sales.

Someone mentioned Sports, I think thats really good idea. Same with Award shows. Thats the type of stuff that would prevent people from cancelling their cable bills.

 

[jtablet]

apple tv as remote control for Apple TV

It'll need a digital TV tuner built in then. I'll bet it hasn't got one.

Guess I was thinking that iPad could be your controller for all your media - and would be like a universal remote for your Apple TV. Obviously I'm not sure how this would work technically, but the possibilities are limitless if they can make the iPad work with TV. I don't think people need another device to watch shows on a small screen. They need the 'promise' of Apple TV - and couldn't iPad help deliver that?

(Could a deal with Tivo play a role? Probably not Apple-style, but with all the lawsuits Tivo is winning, they may have to... Even Microsoft is getting involved, suing Tivo on behalf of AT&T in the last couple weeks...)

 

[offwidafairies]

YES! Legal downloads becoming more accessible to all!

 

[donbadman]

Guess I was thinking that iPad could be your controller for all your media - and would be like a universal remote for your Apple TV. Obviously I'm not sure how this would work technically, but the possibilities are limitless if they can make the iPad work with TV. I don't think people need another device to watch shows on a small screen. They need the 'promise' of Apple TV - and couldn't iPad help deliver that?

http://www.jesustablet.com/2010/01/will-ipad-avenge-both-newton-and-apple.html

(Could a deal with Tivo play a role? Probably not Apple-style, but with all the lawsuits Tivo is winning, they may have to... Even Microsoft is getting involved, suing Tivo on behalf of AT&T in the last couple weeks...)

Doesn't iPhone do this already?

Edit to add: This is why the iPhone was such a success: it meant you needed less expensive gadgets to do the same things as before.

I really do not see what the tablet format does differently that can possibly make it as exciting as the iPhone. Unless it means I can replace my wacom tablet and use it for content creation, but from what I can make out about the tablet so far is that it is just a bigger iPhone but with no phone element and aimed squarely at content consumption.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

While I'd love to see some kind of subscription model, I've been one of the Apple TV users willing to throw away $1.99 on a single episode.

Reasons:

- No commercials
- No in-show banner ads with people hopping around the screen for several seconds, repeating every 5 minutes
- No omnipresent network watermark.
- I only have a 480P widescreen TV.

When I upgrade to a real HDTV, $2.99 an episode is going to give me serious pause. I can't see making that leap - $1.99 is already pushing it.

The only other reason I still have cable is for the cable news networks. There is no solution I'm aware of for watching those live without cable or sat service. I have to tolerate the most horrendous interface just for this, and I can't wait until there's a way to subscribe to them through Apple TV or something else.

 

[krye]

These music execs are so dumb. They just don't get it. They'd rather sell 100,000 albums than sell 10 million songs.

 

[Nausicaa]

I never understood why they didn't extend the movie rental system to television shows. Charge $.99 (realistically, it will never be less than that) and the show gets deleted after 24 hours. I use the iTunes TV shows section for convenience and so I don't have to pay for cable, not to own the shows. Most of the shows I've bought (a lot of ****ing shows) have been deleted from my HD. If I want a permanent copy I'll buy the DVDs.

And I agree with Weston, $3 for a single episode in HD is getting ridiculous. I could stomach the $2, but the extra dollar puts it over the edge for me.

 

[slu]

Let me get this straight. Basically 95% of the songs on iTunes will be $1.29 but TV shows will be $1. That makes sense.

IMO, a TV show should cost less than a song. I only watch TV shows once and delete them.

I'd even go for a $.49 cent rental option that I am allowed to only watch once or for 24 hours.

 

[andiwm2003]

it's time for media companies to realize that they sell not a premium product. media content is a commodity now. so they should accept that prices get lower and profits are made on the side of the production costs. e.g. lower distribution costs, lower salaries across the board, become more efficient.

apple pressuring them to lower prices is a right step toward that direction.

 

[dmm219]

I won't buy TV episodes until they cost only $0.10.

$1 is still too expensive in my mind.

That's just ridiculous. You pay .99 for a SONG. A TV episode costs about 20 times more to produce than 1 song.

I'm all for lowering the prices as hollywood actors, writers and directors make FAR too much for their value (which is the REAL cause of high tv and movie prices)...

But this is just dumb...

 

[Rodimus Prime]

^ You clearly haven't heard of something called atv flash. It will allow you to stream all the media kinds you said it doesn't support and it will let you do it without iTunes. I personally don't have a problem with its connection as most of my videos are encoded to work on it. AppleTV has one of the best interfaces if not the best interface for any of these streaming devices. The only downside to me is lack of 1080 and 802.11n.

Sad it requires basically Jail breaking the device to make it work with the open standard codexs and work outside of iTunes. I do not find that a good solution to the problems and the ATV has earned it reputation for being a pile of crap.
If you are not a computer geek then kiss the idea of using Apple TV beyond its basic limitation good bye.

360 on the other had the first time you try to play an Xvid video it tells you that it lacks the codex and goes and tells you here is the update and ask to download it for you.

No cracking it, no jail breaking it no nothing. MS has laid it all out for you. PS3 from what I read is a very similar and will allow you to use open codex with out having to hack it. Apple on the other had does not.

The Apple TV could of been a great device with very minor things done to it. Allow it to act as a DVR, allow it to play open source Codex, and stream netflix.

As for the DRM apple uses on its stuff from its store is a deal breaker for me. I do not want to have to buy another device for my TV when I already has something that works great for accessing files of my local network. Plus it can stream netflix

 

[dmm219]

While I'd love to see some kind of subscription model, I've been one of the Apple TV users willing to throw away $1.99 on a single episode.

Reasons:

- No commercials
- No in-show banner ads with people hopping around the screen for several seconds, repeating every 5 minutes
- No omnipresent network watermark.
- I only have a 480P widescreen TV.

When I upgrade to a real HDTV, $2.99 an episode is going to give me serious pause. I can't see making that leap - $1.99 is already pushing it.

The only other reason I still have cable is for the cable news networks. There is no solution I'm aware of for watching those live without cable or sat service. I have to tolerate the most horrendous interface just for this, and I can't wait until there's a way to subscribe to them through Apple TV or something else.

It depends on how much you watch right now. I suspect most normal cable ditchers are dumping cable because there just isn't much they like to watch. For the 3-4 or shows they DO like, even at 2.99 an episode, it in still far cheaper to buy off on itunes than pay subscription.

When you start becoming a TV junkie is when you start needing a subscription service. Really, in my opinion, there still isn't near enough quality programing to justify even a $30 a month subscription...