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NBC Direct to Offer TV Shows
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"It's better than nothing!"
I think this will work OK for me, if it's not poorly implemented. I can generally watch a show within one week of its broadcast but I often can't watch a show at the exact time of broadcast.
(I had been using iTunes for the occasional Heroes, 30 Rock, and The Office.)
I think they will lose money badly, though, even for people like me. For example, I did not watch 30 Rock initially. From the previews it seemed crappy to me. But then my wife and I caught an episode, liked it, caught another one, liked it more, and then purchased the ten episodes we previously missed.
But I'm not buying anything that will only work in a Windows-only, NBC-only player. It's just not going to happen.
I think this will work OK for me, if it's not poorly implemented. I can generally watch a show within one week of its broadcast but I often can't watch a show at the exact time of broadcast.
(I had been using iTunes for the occasional Heroes, 30 Rock, and The Office.)
I think they will lose money badly, though, even for people like me. For example, I did not watch 30 Rock initially. From the previews it seemed crappy to me. But then my wife and I caught an episode, liked it, caught another one, liked it more, and then purchased the ten episodes we previously missed.
But I'm not buying anything that will only work in a Windows-only, NBC-only player. It's just not going to happen.
You mean I can watch NBC/Universal on my little 14" laptop PC instead of my 60" front projection Home Theater? I'm there! (rolls eyes...)
You could watch past episodes for free (with advertising) on NBC.com anyways... what's new?
I guess they were streaming before, now you can download them for a week....
NBC Exec:"Hey, let's throw away a bunch of money we're getting from Apple so we can try to retain our outdated funding sources!"
Other NBC Exec:"For the TV shows we already made a profit from? BRILLIANT!"
NBC BigBoss:"Here's your bonuses. You just lost us a lot of free money. Fabulous!"
I guess they were streaming before, now you can download them for a week....
NBC Exec:"Hey, let's throw away a bunch of money we're getting from Apple so we can try to retain our outdated funding sources!"
Other NBC Exec:"For the TV shows we already made a profit from? BRILLIANT!"
NBC BigBoss:"Here's your bonuses. You just lost us a lot of free money. Fabulous!"
Well, it's complaining twice about something that was already announced. NBC rescinded their offer from iTunes, because they wanted to "charge more" (or so they said at the time). Now we can all watch from the comfort of our computers, and I'm sure they'll come out with ways to directly rip those.
No Mac compatibility is a downer but they say they'll come out with Mac support soon. We all had thought that NBC was going to sell their own shows, at least offering them for free is a gift. Who knows, maybe this will start a trend... I'd like to see shows on YouTube posted for 1 week after they are released.
I can't recall the last time I watched a TV show or DVD on my 40" LCD. It still does get good dose of MLB, football, and Sportscenter, though.
Get with the times
For the cost of a year's worth of itunes purchases you can get an eyeTV and record them (if you have an extra computer at home). I do this for all the TV I want to watch.
The reason to complain is that the DRM they are going with is even more restrictive than Apple's. Lame.
In the original article, it sounds more like they are using their own downloadable media player. They also state that future versions will allow purchasing/renting (the current model is ad supported) and will be mac compatible.
With all due respect to Stewart and Colbert, what's keeping me glued to Comedy Central is the hour before their shows. I've recently been smitten by Scrubs (in syndication on Comedy Central), and I think it's the best show on TV. A real shame that not all past episodes are available on iTunes, and the new ones won't be once NBC pulls out.
That, and this season is its last.
That, and this season is its last.
I'm not complaining, but it's only sort of free this year. It's ad supported, just like their online streaming solution at nbc.com right now.
NBC's original excuse was it wanted more "flexibility" in packaging their TV offerings.Like offering different TV shows in one package.That was their "original" excuse.A week later they announced they would partner with Amazon on pay-for-downloads for their shows.
Now..
They have decided to offer the free downloads for a week using DRM and I'm assuming it's MS DRM since the player won't be Mac compatible.
These shows will include the original commercials in them.
From this I'm getting the idea it's the advertisers complaining that their commercials aren't being shown in the Show's that were offered up on iTunes and Amazon..
I believe we can blame more than NBC here.We should include the Ad agencies in this cluster***.
The funny part is if they want to "add" Mac's later they have to license Apple's DRM too..
Feel free to apply for President and CEO of GE anytime.
Besides "30 Rock" and "Heroes" (neither of which I watch) and occasionally Law and Order: SVU, I couldn't care less about NBC. They screwed the pooch when they bailed on iTunes, they're third in the big three primetime networks in ratings and with their crappy Fall line-up doesn't appear that will change any time soon. Poor schmucks.
AMEN. I HATE commercials. A few weeks ago I took out a few old BetaMax and VHS tapes to convert into digital media, and I was amazed that back in the 80's most shows ran 50 min's (any one remember "Mad Headroom"? I watched the pilot on tape, miss that show). Now most shows run any where from 38-40 min's, which means the average viewer spends a third of their time watching mindless ads telling us to "BUY! BUY! BUY!". It's disgusting. I'd rather pay the $1.99 to avoid being brainwashed by advertisers. God bless the free market.
AMEN. I HATE commercials. A few weeks ago I took out a few old BetaMax and VHS tapes to convert into digital media, and I was amazed that back in the 80's most shows ran 50 min's (any one remember "Mad Headroom"? I watched the pilot on tape, miss that show). Now most shows run any where from 38-40 min's, which means the average viewer spends a third of their time watching mindless ads telling us to "BUY! BUY! BUY!". It's disgusting. I'd rather pay the $1.99 to avoid being brainwashed by advertisers. God bless the free market.
Remember NBC is owned by GE.
GE is one of the worst companies you can deal with, they have no foresite they are so cutthought that they will only make decisions that effect the sorterm or this quarters quota. Anything that looks like a loss of profit is killed even though it may have a greater growth posiblilty. All policy no real brains in the organization.
GE is one of the worst companies you can deal with, they have no foresite they are so cutthought that they will only make decisions that effect the sorterm or this quarters quota. Anything that looks like a loss of profit is killed even though it may have a greater growth posiblilty. All policy no real brains in the organization.
ABC Does it right
NBC could learn from ABC's example. I watched Lost last season, but I get poor reception where I live and I was often out of the house when it aired. Rather than record it (with a VCR no less) I would just hop on to ABC.com and watch it there. The video quality was excellent, they allowed you to watch the previous 5 episodes, and they only interrupted the hour long show with a total of a minute and a half of commercials (3 breaks of 30 seconds). For those that wanted to buy it/watch it on their iPods/whatever, they also offered it through iTunes. The best part was watching the season finale: 1 hr 40 minutes with no commercial breaks the last 40 minutes.
I tried doing this with Heroes on NBC on the other hand and was constantly frustrated with the poor quality and the frequent and haphazardly-placed commercials. The season finale lost all excitement when it cut out right in the middle of a fight scene to go to commercial--twice! I really couldn't understand why people liked Heroes until I realized that NBC's less than optimal showing of it probably ruined the experience for me.
NBC could learn from ABC's example. I watched Lost last season, but I get poor reception where I live and I was often out of the house when it aired. Rather than record it (with a VCR no less) I would just hop on to ABC.com and watch it there. The video quality was excellent, they allowed you to watch the previous 5 episodes, and they only interrupted the hour long show with a total of a minute and a half of commercials (3 breaks of 30 seconds). For those that wanted to buy it/watch it on their iPods/whatever, they also offered it through iTunes. The best part was watching the season finale: 1 hr 40 minutes with no commercial breaks the last 40 minutes.
I tried doing this with Heroes on NBC on the other hand and was constantly frustrated with the poor quality and the frequent and haphazardly-placed commercials. The season finale lost all excitement when it cut out right in the middle of a fight scene to go to commercial--twice! I really couldn't understand why people liked Heroes until I realized that NBC's less than optimal showing of it probably ruined the experience for me.
Only if you can get an over the air signal.
With the Elgato Hybrid you can buy an over the air High Definition antenna for $25 and record High Def for free.Almost ALL local stations now have free over the air High Def programming.
If true, that's pure insanity and HURTS shows on the air. Miss an episode? Would NBC rather you stop watching, or catch up? Miss half a season? Would NBC rather you skip it, or listen to friends' recommendations and catch up?
Anyway--no Mac support and no Battlestar Galactica, so it's useless to me on every level.
Not until we get at least 3 more seasons of "Flash Gordon" on the Sci-Fi Channel!!!
Good riddance.
NBC hasnt had a decent show in years; the network that once promoted itself as family-friendly is now all about how many G** d***s and steamy backlit sex scenes they can force on its unsuspecting viewers. Im not going to lie; Heroes sounds like a great concept. Unfortunately, I havent watched an NBC show in several years, and I dont plan on starting it up again.
À la carte cable cant come too soon, so I can get their lousy network out of my home altogether. Between their lousy content and their recent decisions, I say Start caring about your prospective viewers or theyll all stop caring about you!
Just my 2¢ .
NBC hasnt had a decent show in years; the network that once promoted itself as family-friendly is now all about how many G** d***s and steamy backlit sex scenes they can force on its unsuspecting viewers. Im not going to lie; Heroes sounds like a great concept. Unfortunately, I havent watched an NBC show in several years, and I dont plan on starting it up again.
À la carte cable cant come too soon, so I can get their lousy network out of my home altogether. Between their lousy content and their recent decisions, I say Start caring about your prospective viewers or theyll all stop caring about you!
Just my 2¢ .
Yep, with easy ad-skipping and GREAT quality. I love my EyeTV Hyrbid! It even outputs to iPod/iPhone automatically.
I highly recommend the Philips PHDTV3 indoor antenna. Cheap, and the reviews are true: it picks up signals others can't.
That's exactly how I watch Lost. ABC's high-quality option is just about DVD resolution, and the ads pause when the show is ready to resume, so you can easily walk away and then come back and unpause.
