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Television Shows Now Available on iTunes Australia

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Maybe it won't be long for the folks down under to get movies. I still don't understand why it takes so long to negotiate deals for tv shows and movies in other countries. I do understand that it takes time to research the demands of the different markets but sometimes I question the length of time that Apple takes to get these deals off the ground. On the other hand, what reason would they have to slowing everything down since if it were all rolled out now they would be making sales now instead of having to wait until some day in the future. Just a babbling thought. Congrats to those in Australia.
 
gikku said:
am I missing something?
why would you pay real dollars to download and watch TV repeats?
too much time, too much money, or both.
sorry, I just don't get it.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. If they were offering us something we hadn't seen, at the same time (or around the same time) as they were offering/showing them in the US, then that would make a difference. Even if not at the same time as the US, at least not something we've seen. Take Scrubs for example - they've already shown us Season 6 here. The networks are now repeating Season 2 for some reason. Offer us Season 7 like iTunes US has! Offer us the last season of Battlestar since we haven't seen that here yet!
 
sgntscrawn said:
Next G network, which runs on a completely different frequency to any other network in the world
Click to expand...

North & South America are in my world still (They use 850 too).

Next G is the world's flagship mobile network. All enhancements go first onto it. It's still the only network supporting 14.4Mbit, over 15 months after they activated it (and there are still no devices supporting that speed)

A couple of weeks ago they enabled parts of HSPA+ (3G Direct Connect feature).
 
Wow

Off Topic

blueskyrocket said:
For Aussies, ISP plans are capped. A 30 min show is about 300MB. My ISP is Telstra (as the only ADSL2 provider in my area) and I get 25GB for $100/month. Therefore my 300MB download costs $1.20 in download fees alone, or an extra 40% over the $2.99 ask.

What size will movies be? what size will HD movies be? At 4$ /GB I wont be getting any. I believe in data caps, as access to the internet is a finite resource. But $4/GB is too much. The Aussie ISP's know that we are going to need/want much greater data limits to access this new way of acquiring video entertainment. I believe it should be around $1/GB today and only get cheaper as each year passes. Otherwise it will become bracket creep like we have in our income tax rates.

Or, I'll want my ISP to filter out advertising and spam, which consumes data that I didn't ask for or want. Every page you browse on the net is full of graphics and flash stuff that we pay for, yes we do. Because we pay $$'s for that data. I'm annoyed that this hidden cost isn't more transparent to Aussie consumers. There are moves in the US to cap (ie count) your data. Beware of what that means.

BTW, there are many Aussies on low cap plans ie 200MB, 600MB or 2GB / month. At their rates, if they are not careful, will be charged 15c/MB on any excess to their caps. It happens every day. That TV show the 15yo daughter downloads for $2.99 ends up costing 300 x 15c = $45.
Click to expand...

You believe in data caps?????? :eek:

They must really have you brainwashed.

The only people I know that believe in data caps are CEOs looking to increase revenue.

I have never had data caps in my life, and I have been using the internet since Compuserve/Prodigy on my old Mac SE/30 with 2400bps modem in the early 90s. Even when I lived in Eastern Europe, we didn't have data caps.

Time Warner is testing data caps (for new subscribers only) in a small town in Texas, where there isn't much competition from DSL (because people live on large ranches more than 3 miles from town/phone exchange.)

Data caps aren't going to happen elsewhere, there is too much competition.

I currently have Time Warner, which has always been unlimited, and I suspect will stay that way in my area. If they try to put on limits, then we switch to 6 Mb/s DSL unlimited from the local telco. It would be a marketing nightmare for Time Warner here, and the local telco would gain many customers, especially since they are charging $10 less a month.

Rant Over :D

BTW
I can't wait to Download 50+ GB of the BBC 3 broadcast of the Glastonbury Festival next week.
 
What the hell.. Are ANY MTV shows worth $0.99 let alone $2.99 price that they are asking?
 
What an absolute ripoff!!

I have been waiting a long time for this, as I very much enjoyed downloading TV shows when I was studying in the US last year, and hoped I could some day do the same back home.

But come on Apple! (and networks!)
$75 for season 4 of scrubs!! That's at least DOUBLE what I can buy the DVD for in most retail outlets. DOUBLE!! Not even EQUAL, despite the fact that it comes with limited playback capabilities, and no special features, and almost zero distribution costs (packaging etc.)
How on earth can they justify these kinds of prices!

....[end rant]
 
podcasts are exempt from iiNet's "free traffic to iTunes". A bummer.

Where's our movies?

How come the Apple TV still costs $200 more than it does in the USA?

*yawn*
 
spacepower7 said:
Off Topic



You believe in data caps?????? :eek:

They must really have you brainwashed.

The only people I know that believe in data caps are CEOs looking to increase revenue.

I have never had data caps in my life, and I have been using the internet since Compuserve/Prodigy on my old Mac SE/30 with 2400bps modem in the early 90s. Even when I lived in Eastern Europe, we didn't have data caps.

Time Warner is testing data caps (for new subscribers only) in a small town in Texas, where there isn't much competition from DSL (because people live on large ranches more than 3 miles from town/phone exchange.)

Data caps aren't going to happen elsewhere, there is too much competition.

I currently have Time Warner, which has always been unlimited, and I suspect will stay that way in my area. If they try to put on limits, then we switch to 6 Mb/s DSL unlimited from the local telco. It would be a marketing nightmare for Time Warner here, and the local telco would gain many customers, especially since they are charging $10 less a month.

Rant Over :D

BTW
I can't wait to Download 50+ GB of the BBC 3 broadcast of the Glastonbury Festival next week.
Click to expand...

It's not that we believe in data caps - we have no choice in the matter.

Not one ISP here does fully unlimited, un-metered downloads. Everybody in the country is stuck with a cap that they pay an exorbitant price for because when the government sold our original telco monopoly to open up the market for competition they decided that it would be great to allow a now privatised company to keep the infrastructure that our tax dollars helped to build.

So anyone who wants to provide internet either has to build their own network and pass on the costs to the consumers or pay the Telstra tax and pass on the costs to the consumers.

We're essentially being rogered roughly from behind with an iron bar in the internet stakes.
 
curmi said:
I'm with you. If they were offering us something we hadn't seen, at the same time (or around the same time) as they were offering/showing them in the US, then that would make a difference. Even if not at the same time as the US, at least not something we've seen. Take Scrubs for example - they've already shown us Season 6 here. The networks are now repeating Season 2 for some reason. Offer us Season 7 like iTunes US has! Offer us the last season of Battlestar since we haven't seen that here yet!
Click to expand...

They're not going to do that ever.

TV shows will be available as they air in Australia.

Why would you even think that the networks and distributors would ever agree to allow content to be available on iTunes long before it's been shown here. Sure they might make a little bit of money but it means that ratings will be well down along with advertising dollars.

Frankly it's a silly suggestion that iTunes should offer content that has not aired in Australia yet.

Remember that this is a start - it was never going to be everything at once - when the TV shows started being offered in the States it was 5 shows. 5. We've already got waay more than that being offered and many more will come.
 
Chundles said:
It's not that we believe in data caps - we have no choice in the matter.

Not one ISP here does fully unlimited, un-metered downloads. Everybody in the country is stuck with a cap that they pay an exorbitant price for because when the government sold our original telco monopoly to open up the market for competition they decided that it would be great to allow a now privatised company to keep the infrastructure that our tax dollars helped to build.

So anyone who wants to provide internet either has to build their own network and pass on the costs to the consumers or pay the Telstra tax and pass on the costs to the consumers.

We're essentially being rogered roughly from behind with an iron bar in the internet stakes.
Click to expand...

damn straight.

Basically, in short, no one has the beans to front up with some hardcore infrastructure so we're stuck paying stupid prices for **** internet. I shouldn't say that, it's pretty good internet really, it's just expensive.

I just hope the gov'n hurries up with new infrastructure. I'll have fibre to my house thanks (so sick of crappy copper links)
 
Chundles said:
It's not that we believe in data caps - we have no choice in the matter.

Not one ISP here does fully unlimited, un-metered downloads. Everybody in the country is stuck with a cap that they pay an exorbitant price for because when the government sold our original telco monopoly to open up the market for competition they decided that it would be great to allow a now privatised company to keep the infrastructure that our tax dollars helped to build.

So anyone who wants to provide internet either has to build their own network and pass on the costs to the consumers or pay the Telstra tax and pass on the costs to the consumers.

We're essentially being rogered roughly from behind with an iron bar in the internet stakes.
Click to expand...

i just checked whirlpool.net i could not find any ISP's that provided "fully" unlimited downloads with ADSL2+. i found a few ADSL 1.5mbit plans for $120ish(per month, which is a rip). those plans probably cap you at 50gb or something anyways

wanna start installing our own cables and making it unlimited for all our customers?? it would guarantee a massive income if we got enough players :p.

Cybix said:
damn straight.

Basically, in short, no one has the beans to front up with some hardcore infrastructure so we're stuck paying stupid prices for **** internet. I shouldn't say that, it's pretty good internet really, it's just expensive.

I just hope the gov'n hurries up with new infrastructure. I'll have fibre to my house thanks (so sick of crappy copper links)
Click to expand...

around where i live, some of the copper lines have been split and split so badly that its impossible to get anything past dial-up after 1km of the exchange. we will be upgraded first thankyou very much
 
DoFoT9 said:
i just checked whirlpool.net i could not find any ISP's that provided "fully" unlimited downloads with ADSL2+. i found a few ADSL 1.5mbit plans for $120ish(per month, which is a rip). those plans probably cap you at 50gb or something anyways

wanna start installing our own cables and making it unlimited for all our customers?? it would guarantee a massive income if we got enough players :p.
Click to expand...

Mate, if we could somehow do it and take down the big T in the process it would awesome.

FTTH can't come soon enough. And it won't - the government is building it which means it will never be done. Nothing ever gets done when the government does it - we need a benevolent dictator who will be there long enough to see it through.

Then we'll get proper internet.

New Zealand won't though and we can then move on to laughing at them rather than have the world laughing at us.
 
hrmmm.

anyway, going back to the topic..

Now that we have iTunes TV Shows (and maybe soon movies), do you think it's a good opportunity for Apple to cut the cost on the Apple TV here? I mean, they cut it in the USA, possibly due to profits on the download'able content or subsidies? $200 AU more, for the same device, just isn't fair, at all. With or without a gazillion taxes on top, it's still nearly a 100% markup. WHY. Don't even get me started on the rest of Apple's hardware prices here. But the Apple TV has to be the worst (most marked up)...

I think people will get a very rude shock when the iPhone pricing is announced here in Oz....
 
Chundles said:
Mate, if we could somehow do it and take down the big T in the process it would awesome.

FTTH can't come soon enough. And it won't - the government is building it which means it will never be done. Nothing ever gets done when the government does it - we need a benevolent dictator who will be there long enough to see it through.

Then we'll get proper internet.

New Zealand won't though and we can then move on to laughing at them rather than have the world laughing at us.
Click to expand...

being more advanced isnt that much of a feat :p (im kidding).

i just wish that the government would finally wake up to the real world and stop doing EVERYTHING wrong. proper internet is a while away, so we are stuck with whatever we can get.

if i ever start an ISP (which could be a possibility) ill ask you to be my partner :p haha.
 
Cybix said:
hrmmm.

anyway, going back to the topic..

Now that we have iTunes TV Shows (and maybe soon movies), do you think it's a good opportunity for Apple to cut the cost on the Apple TV here? I mean, they cut it in the USA, possibly due to profits on the download'able content or subsidies? $200 AU more, for the same device, just isn't fair, at all. With or without a gazillion taxes on top, it's still nearly a 100% markup. WHY. Don't even get me started on the rest of Apple's hardware prices here. But the Apple TV has to be the worst (most marked up)...

I think people will get a very rude shock when the iPhone pricing is announced here in Oz....
Click to expand...

Absolutely. The Apple TV price here is a joke.
 
I'd hope movies and rentals will be coming soon and when that happens it might be worth buying an AppleTV. Although I'd still need a new TV :(
 
blueskyrocket said:
For Aussies, ISP plans are capped. A 30 min show is about 300MB. My ISP is Telstra (as the only ADSL2 provider in my area) and I get 25GB for $100/month. Therefore my 300MB download costs $1.20 in download fees alone, or an extra 40% over the $2.99 ask.

What size will movies be? what size will HD movies be? At 4$ /GB I wont be getting any. I believe in data caps, as access to the internet is a finite resource. But $4/GB is too much. The Aussie ISP's know that we are going to need/want much greater data limits to access this new way of acquiring video entertainment. I believe it should be around $1/GB today and only get cheaper as each year passes. Otherwise it will become bracket creep like we have in our income tax rates.

Or, I'll want my ISP to filter out advertising and spam, which consumes data that I didn't ask for or want. Every page you browse on the net is full of graphics and flash stuff that we pay for, yes we do. Because we pay $$'s for that data. I'm annoyed that this hidden cost isn't more transparent to Aussie consumers. There are moves in the US to cap (ie count) your data. Beware of what that means.

BTW, there are many Aussies on low cap plans ie 200MB, 600MB or 2GB / month. At their rates, if they are not careful, will be charged 15c/MB on any excess to their caps. It happens every day. That TV show the 15yo daughter downloads for $2.99 ends up costing 300 x 15c = $45.

Our dominant ISP of course does not charge (but still counts) for bandwidth usage when downloading from their own Music and Movies site. This will give them an unfair market advantage, which they have been exploiting, unchallenged. Oh of course all of Telstra (BigPond) services are Windows only, so your Mac is a 2nd class customer, so you can't even utilize the uncapped data they provide, aside from the occasional Leo Laporte podcast that is 3 weeks old.

I shudder to think what Telstra's data plans are going to be like if they reach agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone, but that's another story about to unfold.
BSR
Click to expand...

Have you considered moving to an 8mbit plan with another ISP? You may take a hit in the speed (depending on what you sync at) but it might be cheaper / get you more quota compared to what you are on now

You could always move to iiNet. Free traffic to the iTunes store.

http://www.iinet.net.au/my/media/mc-itunes.html

It also works to the US store as it is mirrored on Akamai. I have been getting iTunes downloads quota free for a long time now :)

EDIT: Also if you are paying 15c/Mb over your quota I would recommend moving to another ISP. Westnet, Internoded etc all provide much better rates then that.

I am sorry but if you are with Bigpond and complaining about their service/price/plans simply churn to another ISP. You will be able to fast-churn to any other ISP (beside AAPT & Optus) in usually less than 24hrs.

Currently the big price hurdle here is the price for port rental in the exchanges and the cost for backhaul data. Telstra own the hardware in the exchanges, unless the ISP has rolled out their own, and they charge a lot to rent the ports. Rolling out DSLAM's to exchanges is a very very costly exercise and many ISP's can't afford to do it.

Your point about Bigpong not charging/counting for downloads within their own network is not uncommon. All ISP's generally have a range of content mirrored on their own servers. They are then able to provide this content to their customers for free as it does not have to traverse the international (transit) links or from other providers mirrors.

If you are after free content that the different providers have simply have a look around on their sites, it is all there and isn't hidden away either.

Just a sample:
Westnet's Free Traffic:
- 3fl.net.au - File mirror, game servers, streaming radio
- Westnet Neighborhood - Download Vault (file mirror), MyWestnet

iiNet's Free Traffic:
- iTunes
- iiNet FTP & File mirror
- Streaming radio
- On Demand Premier League broadcasts (during the season)
- On Demand Drift racing


If you find your current plan / situation a problem/rip-off exercise your right as a consumer and do not go with that provider. Bigpond and Optus are notoriously expensive for what they offer, so have a look around, and look at ISP's like Westnet, iiNet, Internode aaNet etc they all provide much better service and better plans. The only way to impact Telstra's net policies is to do something about it and not paying them each month for your net is a pretty good way of doing that.

Seriously, go out have a look at other ISP's pricing, plans and service quality and then make a decision. You will most likely find you can get more quota, better service and a much better experience over-all if you aren't with Telstra.
 
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