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Apple to Offer 99-Cent TV Show Rentals?
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I would hope they would build on the success of the ABC app, limited commercials, stream all your shows for free. I know iAd is for mobile devices but wouldn't apple have a huge market if they took over the advertising for such a product. Each network could create its own app...
I hope that is the future.
I hope that is the future.
Free With iAds
They should make 'em free by inserting non-skippable iAds throughout. 99 american cents is a bit steep considering that for $1 more you can own the show. They should, instead, offer season/ series rent deals. So like, $12 per season of 'said' show.
They should make 'em free by inserting non-skippable iAds throughout. 99 american cents is a bit steep considering that for $1 more you can own the show. They should, instead, offer season/ series rent deals. So like, $12 per season of 'said' show.
So, you watch 5 movies (10 hours) and 10 shows (about 8 hours) per month. It's about 36 minutes per day. Are you sure you did not forget something? Good for you anyways, it's just this probably will not work for most of us.
I love it when people with lousy arguments simply decide to speak for the majority and think that helps make their points somehow more valid.
Apple's shift from a driver of creativity towards a provider for the mindless consumer society has never been more obvious.
And of course people will pay for that.
And of course people will pay for that.
I like netflix. I stream to my computer and a PS3. Also the DVDs.
Streaming is the direct comparison. I think perhaps Apple's method of charging for each rental will allow them to stream shows not available on netflix (for streaming). If I recall correctly netflix acquired some company with a license to stream certain shows. But there are many they are not licensed to stream.
I really do not like renting TV episodes to stream. I'd rather have a plan like Netflix that gives me unlimited streaming or rent the DVDs. In some cases I want to own the media outright. But for people who want to watch by stream, Apple might benefit by offering choices not available on netflix.
Apple would be in a much better position in just offering a PVR to match with your cable. Hardware sales (their #1 profit maker) would be much higher than yet another stea... err.. streamer like the first AppleTV was. I know I'd buy a HD capable PVR (my cable co wants 599$ for theirs, eff that crap).
I'm not sure I understand the negative comments. Right now you can buy a show for $1.99, but in most cases you are only going to watch once. So a $.99 rental seems to be offering an additional option. Sure, subscriptions are an even cheaper option on a per-show basis, but those are already available, so exactly why should Apple waste money and effort to provide a redundant service? Apparently not everyone wants to commit to a subscription, so what's wrong with Apple offering an additional per-show option.
A brilliant insight, obviously from an elite member of the intelligentsia. Perhaps we each should pay $.99 for such gems.
$0.99 per episode, guess that would be 79-99p in UK.
So if you want to watch a series with 20 episodes...! Might as well buy even at Apple's insane prices! Wouldn't be better if they put an iAd or 2 at the beginning and in the middle to lower prices a bit?
On the other hand, I recently got an LG DVD player with 1080p upscaling, USB and DivX playback for £50. Clearly its possible to make your money back in no time with the power of the interpipe...
So if you want to watch a series with 20 episodes...
! Might as well buy even at Apple's insane prices! Wouldn't be better if they put an iAd or 2 at the beginning and in the middle to lower prices a bit? On the other hand, I recently got an LG DVD player with 1080p upscaling, USB and DivX playback for £50. Clearly its possible to make your money back in no time with the power of the interpipe...
TV Show Rentals
Nah. Here's a better ides - $10 - $15 Season Pass "rentals" - each show is available to view until the next episode airs, and you have 48 hours from when you start watching it until it self destructs. I've bought a couple of season passes for shows I like, and will continue to do so as long as it makes sense - that the iTunes download is appreciably cheaper than what I anticipate the DVD boxed set will sell for. But there's shows I'm curious about but wouldn't necessarily want to buy to keep.
Nah. Here's a better ides - $10 - $15 Season Pass "rentals" - each show is available to view until the next episode airs, and you have 48 hours from when you start watching it until it self destructs. I've bought a couple of season passes for shows I like, and will continue to do so as long as it makes sense - that the iTunes download is appreciably cheaper than what I anticipate the DVD boxed set will sell for. But there's shows I'm curious about but wouldn't necessarily want to buy to keep.
I think this is a wonderful idea. However, I think they need some sort of "Unlimited Rental Subscription" option too. If they charge $20-30 dollars a month for unlimited movie/tv rental, Apple would make a ton of money with a $99 iTV device. It be like a "On Demand" service. haha iDemand (©)!
EDIT:
Yes, that would supply my thirst for internet TV! I might even pay for Hulu+ (but I somehow doubt Hulu+ will be for iTV, because Comcast owns NBC and NBC made Hulu!!!)
EDIT:
Yes, that would supply my thirst for internet TV! I might even pay for Hulu+ (but I somehow doubt Hulu+ will be for iTV, because Comcast owns NBC and NBC made Hulu!!!)
I'm not sure I understand the negative comments. Right now you can buy a show for $1.99, but in most cases you are only going to watch once. So a $.99 rental seems to be offering an additional option. Sure, subscriptions are an even cheaper option on a per-show basis, but those are already available, so exactly why should Apple waste money and effort to provide a redundant service? Apparently not everyone wants to commit to a subscription, so what's wrong with Apple offering an additional per-show option.
all the kids are on the internet screaming how they are cool and not paying for cable and watching via Hulu or some other internet service
apple and other companies scan blogs and forums for product ideas
now they think there is a market for it
most of these kids are dumb and don't realize that $25 of their cable bill goes to pay the content creators and they get a lot of channels and shows for it. once they start spending too much money a la carte they will scream for a subscription like we have now
and after you pay for internet access what is the point of dumping time warner or comcast for this?
Football and baseball aren't enough for some people. They claim to be the be-all-end-all of sports, yet anything outside of the big five (and not always those) gets no HD. Yet they own more HD equipment than Sony.
I did manage to get them to slightly fix their Wimbledon broadcast this year, but they still did their best to F it. They squeeze, shift, downgrade, etc. the signal instead of giving decent TV.
Sports is the one thing keeping me with satellite TV right now, and every time I watch ESPN, the reasons fade a little more. And BTN seems to have forgotten about volleyball, so I have a feeling I'll be gone by year end.
You do get a cable bill, right? I do. And I don't think my $95/month invoice could be called "free".
It is higher quality than current Hulu and similar offerings.
Netflix recently struck a deal with Epix premium cable/sat network which will bring thousands of movies from Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp to streaming. They also have deals to stream WB, Fox, etc TV shows. Thus netflix is a direct competitor to hulu, apple streaming (if rumor is true) and premium cable channels.
I'm glad it's working for you, but you got ripped off. Amplifiers on indoor antennas are generally a meaningless feature. You only need an amp for signal transfer between antenna and your TV, and indoor antennas usually are just a couple feet from plugging into the TV. (or other tuner) Amps do NOT amplify the amount of signal received or improve the antenna's reception. Sometimes they can actually worsen the signal.
If you need more signal, start with a bigger antenna, outside. The "HD4400" model at that link is good for most people within cities that need UHF only. The "HD-1080" adds VHF for those that need it for a few more bucks, although "UHF-only" antennas can often receive VHF quite well. (no, I don't work there, I may have bought from them once, can't remember) 3 names: Winegard, Antennas Direct, Channel Master. There just isn't any reason to stray outside of these 3 companies.
Be wary of any advertisment that claims you need a special antenna to get HD. Most HD signals are UHF, which has existed for decades, and most antennas (other than rabbit ears) do a great job picking up UHF regardless of whether the channel is SD or HD. This doesn't mean all "HD" antennas are bad, but don't pay extra for the marketing. Like here, the first few are crazy overpriced gimmicks that they made to play with people, lower down the page, the "DB" series are excellent antennas. (and are cheaper at actual stores like Amazon, this is the mfgr website)
I'm not sure I understand the negative comments.
It's everyone's perception of value. Some of us think it's a great value and other's don't. I think the negativity comes from people really wanting to dump other services, but want value and what Apple is offering isn't considered a good value to them. Imagine if you're home during the winter and you're sick. You just want to watch some mindless TV so you start downloading random shows. Well on Apple's system, that's going to be pretty expensive if you're sick for a few days. When iTunes first came out I used to buy from it because it was easy and somewhat reasonable way to purchase music. Now I rarely buy from Apple because there are many services that are cheaper. Most of those services import directly into iTunes, so I'm not missing the experience.
I agree with you completely and think that's a good price range. Other options might be an al la carte system where you can subscribe to series as opposed to everything.
I would like to see some live streaming of sport shows and instant news watching. I personally don't have cable or a dish so DVR is not an option in some cases.
Netflix destroys this. I don't have it, but my parents do and it's awesome. I think tv show rentals will have zero impact on television viewing. It's much worse than what is already offered by many other companies. My hacked Apple TV does much more than any of this rubbish. Everyone should just do the same.
You do realize Rupert Murdoch owns Mac Rumors right? Every time you view another page with ads you are supporting him. I don't like most of his News Corps properties either myself (especially Faux News ugh!) but I do like Mac Rumors.
