Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Rolls Out 'Complete My Season Pass' for TV Shows

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,493
37,783



While Apple has long offered a "Complete My Album" feature in the iTunes Store to allow users who have previously purchased individual tracks to upgrade to the full album at a discounted price reflecting their single-track purchases, users have not had the flexibility of a similar option for TV shows.

itunes_tv_complete_my_season_pass.jpg



That appears to have changed this week with the addition of a "Complete My Season Pass" feature now available in the iTunes Store. When logged in and viewing an iTunes Store page listing for a single season of a TV show, the Season Pass purchase price will be reduced by the amount of previous single-episode purchases, allowing users to upgrade to the full season without having to essentially repurchase the episodes they had previously acquired individually.

Season passes for TV shows typically come at a significant discount compared to buying each episode of the season individually. Consequently, the new Complete My Season Pass feature should offer users who find themselves having already purchased several episodes of a season and wishing to upgrade to the full season a way to save some money.

(Thanks, Charles!)

Article Link: Apple Rolls Out 'Complete My Season Pass' for TV Shows
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/20/apple-rolls-out-complete-my-season-pass-for-tv-shows/
With all the streaming options available these days I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay a relatively large amount of money to "purchase" a television series. You could pay for three months of streaming for the cost of one season.

Anyone here buy tv series as opposed to streaming? What are your reasons?
 
TrooperKal said:
With all the streaming options available these days I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay a relatively large amount of money to "purchase" a television series. You could pay for three months of streaming for the cost of one season.

Anyone here buy tv series as opposed to streaming? What are your reasons?
Click to expand...
I buy all my favorite shows because I prefer the ability to watch them on either one of my computers without having to go to some site and watch commercials or pay monthly fees. I tried Netflix for about a day and cancelled. It's cheaper than cable or satellite for my shows, about $12-15 a week. I only have to wait till 1AM the following morning to get them instead if days or even months like Netflix.
 
hexonxonx said:
I noticed this yesterday. I still find it easier and more affordable to buy each show as it is released each week.
Click to expand...

Yes, but after you've bought enough $3 episodes upon weekly release to reach the price of the season pass, it's even more affordable to click "$0.00 Buy Season Pass" and get the rest of the season for free.
 
TrooperKal said:
With all the streaming options available these days I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay a relatively large amount of money to "purchase" a television series. You could pay for three months of streaming for the cost of one season.

Anyone here buy tv series as opposed to streaming? What are your reasons?
Click to expand...

I purchased both seasons of "The Walking Dead" - Season 1 because at the time, DirecTV didn't offer amc in HD, and season 2 because I had downgraded to a lower package that didn't offer amc.
 
Finally!!

Great move by Apple to have us complete our Season Passes. I've been waiting for this for quite a while. So is this a positive step for the eventual Apple TV set?
 
starbird said:
I purchased both seasons of "The Walking Dead" - Season 1 because at the time, DirecTV didn't offer amc in HD, and season 2 because I had downgraded to a lower package that didn't offer amc.
Click to expand...

Plus, I prefer to buy HD versions in iTunes because I don't have an HD satellite receiver or TV. I can get get that HD quality on my MBP or 24" Samsung HD monitor.
 
TrooperKal said:
With all the streaming options available these days I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay a relatively large amount of money to "purchase" a television series. You could pay for three months of streaming for the cost of one season.

Anyone here buy tv series as opposed to streaming? What are your reasons?
Click to expand...

What streaming options? Is there anything besides Hulu? And I mean something where you aren't bound to a single cable TV provider, because then you are also bound to be missing other stuff. Besides, all those options are only available in the US.

For me, sadly, the only way to get an early pass to TV series in digital format is torrents or iTunes. Everything else is either late, fixed to a single day of the week and hour, or both. Or won't be airing at all, ever. :-(
 
Superken7 said:
What streaming options? Is there anything besides Hulu? And I mean something where you aren't bound to a single cable TV provider, because then you are also bound to be missing other stuff. Besides, all those options are only available in the US.

For me, sadly, the only way to get an early pass to TV series in digital format is torrents or iTunes. Everything else is either late, fixed to a single day of the week and hour, or both. Or won't be airing at all, ever. :-(
Click to expand...

And I know some people are thinking why not Amazon? iTunes still has some exclusive content agreements that Amazon isn't allowed such as Ghost Adventures. Can't get that on Amazon.
 
Prices for TV and movies are out to lunch, and it is very sad. This is a good step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go.

The math is easy to do. On average people watch 150 hours of TV a month. On average, a cable bill is 50 bucks. This is subsidized with commercials. This is where all the disagreements will come in. But triple the cost without subsidies seems very fair in my mind. So 1 dollar for 1 hour of TV from iTunes. Remember, a show like house is 45 minutes. So it should be 75 cents per episode. Anymore then that, and it doesn't add up.
 
Now what they need to start doing is allowing us to upgrade movies/tv shows we may have purchased in SD (for what ever reason, often because at the time it was the only option) in HD for the difference.
 
still makes no sense u can get the BD box incl. digital copy for less than those low quality iTunes rips
 
TrooperKal said:
With all the streaming options available these days I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay a relatively large amount of money to "purchase" a television series. You could pay for three months of streaming for the cost of one season.
Anyone here buy tv series as opposed to streaming? What are your reasons?
Click to expand...
Two reasons: selection and quality. My family does all our TV watching with streaming or DVDs. There are a number of popular shows that simply are not available streaming, whether it's on Netflix, Hulu, Crackle or any other streaming service. There's also the issue of quality. I usually purchase any TV shows I get through Amazon's service because it works with our Roku box and because I don't want to fill my hard drives with downloaded TV shows. The quality from Amazon's purchase options, especially if you choose HD are much better than what Netflix offers and they don't have commercials like Hulu or Crackle. If it's a show that I intend to watch more than once and if it's not available anywhere else, I'll buy it through Amazon.

Also, I avoid digital rentals like the plague unless it's for movies and then only as a last resort. I hate paying a premium for something that I have a limited time to watch. If I'm going to pay $2-3 an episode or $10 for a movie, then I better be able to watch that episode whenever and wherever I want with no time limits.
 
Originally Posted by bushido said:
still makes no sense u can get the BD box incl. digital copy for less than those low quality iTunes rips
Click to expand...
hexonxonx said:
Don't have a player and don't want one.
Click to expand...

And since digital copies come on DVD you can ignore the nice-backed-up-Hi-Def-with-much-better-compression-Blu-ray and use the digital copy part with any computer that has a DVD drive. In other words: Don't need one. And you still save money. Just saying.

The real downside is you have to wait until the season is over to get the episodes when you buy on physical media and many shows are timely or are fun because you can discuss them with others who are watching week to week.

More on topic, the best part about this is you can try a few episodes of a show before you commit to a season. The other way doesn't make much sense if you have ever gotten sick of a show. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back