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Media (Apple) Businesses Media Apple

Apple Adds New TV Shows To iTunes 394

Posted by Zonk from the i-am-mr.-ed dept.
Phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Apple has added eleven new and classic television shows from NBC, the Sci-Fi network, and USA. The new shows include Alfred Hitchcock, Battlestar Galactica, Monk, Surface, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, Dragnet, Law & Order, The Office and most importantly: Knight Rider!" From the article: "Steve Jobs took the opportunity to toot Apple's horn, stating that since the inception of video downloads on the iTMS, they'd sold nearly three million individual items. In addition to the sales figures, the PR from Apple stated that their current offering of video stands at approximately 300 episodes. All in all this looks like a slam dunk for Apple as they're rounding up their distribution deals and diversifying their suppliers. If the rumored deals with FOX and CBS are true then Apple will have a dominating lead in this market, much like their current domination in the digital music distribution arena."
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Apple Adds New TV Shows To iTunes More

Apple Adds New TV Shows To iTunes

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  • When will the rest of the world sign on? (Score:5, Informative)

    by mattyohe ( 517995 ) <matt DOT yohe AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:48AM (#14193681)
    Evidently TV is still only downloadable at the US iTunes store.

    • Re:When will the rest of the world sign on? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by British ( 51765 ) <british1500@gmail.com> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:58AM (#14193785) Homepage Journal
      Which brings up an interesting problem: If this were available in the UK, how would the television license come into play? Would it be rolled up into the cost if you wanted to buy an episode of the UK Office? Since you don't need a tele to play it, just a computer or ipod.
      • I don't remember paying an extra surcharge on DVDs here, so I fail to see this being any different; Apple should be in the clear.
      • It wouldn't. The TV license is a fixed fee for people who have a television. It isn't needed to watch video files on a computer.
        • Well, the idea is to make sure viewers help fund BBC, so I'd assume some of the iTunes fee would go to the BBC. Which it would anyway.

      • If you have a TV licence for your house, then it covers all TVs within that house, as well as any and all TVs that can be powered solely from their own internal power source i.e. batteries at any other location. The iPod would qualify for that, so as long as you had a TV license at home (which you almost certainly would) then you'd be OK. If you didn't, then they might have to re-think things. That being said, it would only affect BBC programmes, as the license fee is only there to support the BBC as other

    • When will the rest of the world sign on?

      Unfortunately, even if the rest of the world starts releasing programming, it won't be US based. BitTorrent's popularity is driven at least in part due to TV programming restrictions on an international level. Were iTunes to get Dr. Who in the UK, I still doubt it would be available for US users, continuing to leave people no legal way to obtain said programming.

      It's like asking when DVD region coding will go away, and when a DVD/movie will have the same release date internationally. Despite the number of times Finding Nemo (etc) was pirated because it was on DVD here in the states even before it launched in theaters across the globe, people in charge of distribution and licensing will (seemingly) never get that it's a global world now.
      • It's like asking when DVD region coding will go away

        DVD region coding is going away when DVD becomes HD-DVD or BluRay - neither supports region coding (something that really irritates me, since I travel between the UK and the USA quite a bit).

        At some point the media cartels will have to start allowing world-wide licensing, for TV especially. If you can either download a show from BitTorrent today, or wait six months for it to be aired in the UK, which do you think sounds more attractive? I would love

        • Pick up a Philips DVP-642. They're about $60, can play MPEG and DivX movies from data CDs, and you can either remove or reset the region code with a few presses on the remote control. They're not exactly portable, but at that price you can buy two and keep one here and one there.
    • Evidently TV is still only downloadable at the US iTunes store.

      Even though I live in the US and have access to the TV shows, I avoid downloading them. Due to the DRM, there doesn't seem to be any way to burn the episodes to a DVD so that I can watch them on my TV without having to drag the computer over and connect it.

  • Important question... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:48AM (#14193683)
    The Office

    WHICH Office?

    This is an important issue here! One is a funny show, the other is the funniest show since Basil Fawlty...

    • The new (Steve Carell) Office. It would be awesome if they got some BBC stuff up there... I already have Fawlty Towers on DVD, but I'd want it up there just so I can tell people to get it!
    • It's in the US, so it's the US office. Not the BBC one.

      A quick jaunt over to iTunes would also show this. Anyway, it's the one with Steve Carrell.

    • Re:Important question... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Angostura ( 703910 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:55AM (#14193750)
      A quick peek at iTunes shows that it is the U.S office. Getting the UK Office would require Apple to do a deal with the BBC. And wouldn't *that* be a great day.
      • Getting the UK Office would require Apple to do a deal with the BBC. And wouldn't *that* be a great day.

        Thinking again about this... probably not. The BBC are planning to roll their own online distribution system, and probably wouldn't want to get tied in to a single system like iTunes.

        I wish they'd get on with it, though. I want to watch Hartnell-era Doctor Who eps online, dammit!

  • iTMS dominates now that they feature.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by presearch ( 214913 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:51AM (#14193701)
    International Superstar David Hasselhof.

  • Apple's going to take the lead just for trying. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hal2814 ( 725639 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:52AM (#14193713)
    Apple's has the opportunity to take a big lead in this new trend just for going out of the gate with it. Here's an idea that will eventually have to take hold. With large bandwidth, modern compression, and the "Media Center" role PCs are starting to play, there will be a market for video-on-demand via the computer. It was obvious, but Apple will get out there first and build a big lead in this market just because they went after it.

    • Re:Apple's going to take the lead just for trying. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by justin12345 ( 846440 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:12PM (#14193896)
      Apple! Increase the frakking resolution of the video! I would love to download Battlestar Galactica but I won't do it if its only going to look good on my iPod. I want video that will look good anywhere I play it, including my DLP projector.

    • Re:Apple's going to take the lead just for trying. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hsmith ( 818216 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:14PM (#14193916)
      People may want to deny it, but on demand content like this IS the future. Sure, it has DRM, but most people don't care at all. It is about convenience.

      Jobs sees this and he has taken hold of it. the success of the iPod proves it, people will pay a moderate sum and be locked in to propriertary content and players. Not even i really care, i'd rather d/l instantly with iTunes and scour the net for 1/2 hour for a song. Move this into other media formats and Jobs is solitifying the long term future of apple. They can move from just computers and ipods to tvs, dvrs, ect. this is the future and he is making apple the leader of the pack
    • nobody is noticing what this is doing elsewhere. companies like comcast had better be scared shitless as this is what their costomers will want.

      If you ask everyone that for what they pay for CableTv they could get a service where they simply subscribe to the TV shows they want... both Stargates, Mythbusters, Lost, Bullshit, etc... and they get the shows as well as some freebie teasers of new shows or "highlighted" shows in the "what's new" section they would buy it in droves. CableTv sucks there is mayb
      • CableTv sucks there is maybe 12% of all the content that a person watches, the rest is useless to them either because the shows are on when they can not watch them, or the viewership is too small to dedicate airtime.

        It's way WAY less than 12%. If you have 100 channels and you watch your TV 24/7 without sleeping, with picture-in-a-picture turned on, you're still only utilizing 2% of the content you're getting (not accounting for reruns, etc). Most people with cable get more than 100 channels, and don't wat

  • I want Firefly! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lispy ( 136512 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:52AM (#14193722) Homepage
    And while youre at it, I want new episodes.
    • (had to be said, sorry)

  • As a non-itunes user... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by imsabbel ( 611519 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:52AM (#14193725)
    Are those shows downloadable in decent quality, or only in poststamp ipod format?
    • Actually, the shows are pretty nice. Granted, they're not perfect quality when replayed on a big ol TV, but they're quite watchable on both the iPod and bigger screens.
    • 320X240 size IIRC.

      If that resolution isn't exact, it's around that size. Works for cartoons, a bit too small to really enjoy other shows on your TV.
      • I have a new iMac G5 with a 20" flat panel screen. The TV shows I've downloaded look great at full-screen. This is not HDTV, but if you've been viewing standard TV for years, you won't notice the difference.

    • SD Quality Downloads (Score:5, Informative)

      by Frobozz0 ( 247160 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:22PM (#14193983)
      It's Standard Definition (SD) quality television. In fact, it can look a lot better than SD if you play it through an HD set with upsampling or other quality improving technologies.

      For example, I have a Sony 50" LCD Projection HDTV (Love it, BTW.) I also have a PowerBook. All I do is plug the S-Video cable from my computer to my TV and play all those episode of LOST I love. I had never seen LOST prior to downloading on iTunes, so I thought I would DL a couple and try it out. I was really impressed by the quality. It's better than a normal SD broadcast, the colors are amazing, and the compression is almost never noticable.

      So, yes, I would like HD quality downloads for video (nominal charge is fine for bandwidth) and I'd like higher quality AAC's (norminal charge fine) as an option. But this is a great start and will prove the validity of the concept.

  • Adam-12 (Score:5, Funny)

    by MrFreak ( 204353 ) <sloppy.sloppydisk@com> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:53AM (#14193730) Homepage
    Wow, the entire first season of Adam-12! I've been waiting for this.

  • Are the TV execs thinkin about the future? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Suburbanpride ( 755823 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:53AM (#14193732)
    Many music execs now regret agreeing to stanard pricing acorss the board.I wouldn't bee suprised if the TV execs left themselves room in the contract to mess arounf with prices once video downloading really starts to take off. I think its reasonable that yesterday's "Lost" would cost more than an old episode of Knight Ridder.

    In the meantime, Im happy to see more shows on itunes

    • Be careful what you think is reasonable. Despite what they may say in public, the only reason that music execs want variable pricing is so they can charge more than they do now when they think they can get away with it.

      I suspect the TV companies are asking for variable pricing right now, and the reason they are only coming on-board slowly and with a limited number of programmes is because Apple won't budge on the issue.

  • David Hasselhoff show, but not Baywatch??? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:54AM (#14193737)
    I can't believe it. I mean, I like Knight Rider as much as the next guy, but if I had to pick one David Hasselhoff series it would be Baywatch. Call me crazy.

  • Although I loved Knight Rider as a child, I just can't watch it any more because my suspension of disbelief can't hold up to it any more. First, it's obvious that no AI can be as good as KITT. But even if you choose to accept that, then the next question is, why did they think the best use for such amazing AI software is to shove it in a car so some vigilante can fight crime? Or why didn't they at least make copies of it for a thousand other uses?

    Also, whenever I see David Hasselhoff now, I just think, "
    • Were you put off Star Trek by the travelling faster than light thing? Because an AI indistinguishable from a person is not only theoretically possible, but inevitable eventually. But FTL travel has a more fundamental breaking-the-law-of-physics problem.

  • This will be news when... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by blinder ( 153117 ) * <blinder...dave@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:58AM (#14193773) Homepage Journal
    ... when they lock up some kind of deal with rhino to distribute mystery science theater 3000.

    yeah... now *that* would be a dream come true? need a quick manos fix? go to itms... and watch on your ipod.

    *thinks about productivity*

    perhaps that isn't such a great idea.

    but yeah... wonder if mister jobs is a misty?

  • Hasselhoff? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sczimme ( 603413 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:58AM (#14193781)

    Just when you thought you'd never be able to get live action David Hasselhoff on your iPod video

    s/thought/hoped

  • After all the years (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Southpaw018 ( 793465 ) * on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:59AM (#14193786) Journal
    After all the years of insanely stupid business decisions, lagging in the markets, struggling to compete, and relying on loyal users to keep it up, look at Apple now. ITMS dominates, and it does so for the right reasons - good software, good hardware. No acts of Congress involved. Good for them.

  • Danger! Danger! Non-uniform pricing!! (Score:5, Informative)

    by ZachPruckowski ( 918562 ) <zachary.pruckowski@gmail.com> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @11:59AM (#14193788)
    I'd like to point out that most of the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien stuff is $1.99, which means it costs the same as 45 minutes of LOST. But they are selling two roughly hour-long specials from Conan for $9.99. This is a big example of non-standard pricing, and I wouldn't be suprised to see more of it in the future.

    • Important Add-on comment (Score:5, Informative)

      by ZachPruckowski ( 918562 ) <zachary.pruckowski@gmail.com> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:05PM (#14193838)
      I'd like to point out that most of the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien stuff is $1.99, which means it costs the same as 45 minutes of LOST.

      The important part of that sentence is that the Leno and Conan stuff is 5-10 minutes long for the same price.
      • I'm assuming that's the contents of the shows that don't include anything that would require more royalties: celebrity interviews, musical guests, Walker: Texas Ranger clips...

        $2 for a 6-minute monologue is mighty steep, though.
    • Two hours of talk show for $9.99 is a ridiculous price. Are they of particularly fantastic quality?

      Scripted TV shows and movies are stuff you watch several times and your favourites are stuff you want to collect. Companies can thus get away with charging a premium on it. Are there really that many that will want to watch a particular episode of Late Night Show over and over again unless a relative happened to be on it?

      I'll find it surprising if these work out as anything but a free teaser for other material
      • The two approximately hour long episodes are: 10th Anniversary Special, and a Best of Triumph episode. The short clips (15 minute) include a few Triumph clips and some other skits. All of the skits offered for download (at $2 a pop!) are pretty old (4-5 years?). I'm a little disappointed.
    • I didn't look at the Conan stuff yet, but the Leno stuff that's available is just small portions of the show. I'm not paying $2 for the headlines (Which are available for free on NBC's web site [nbc.com]), or the Jay Walking skit. I might pay $2 for a whole episode, if it included the interviews and band, and I wanted to see one of those, but no way am I paying $2 for something I can get free on their web site.

  • Kind of nice. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:00PM (#14193790) Homepage Journal
    I suppose this is fine for missing a single episode, but for me and episodes of currently running series, I'm thinking a DVR is going to be a better way to go. I have MythTV set up 95%, I've just been putting off finishing it up, and for those that don't go for self-flagellation like installing Myth, there are commercial DVRs too that don't seem too bad. For TV shows that aren't run anymore, the DVDs are better deals anyway, I'm hoping there will be easier conversion software.
    • Let's suppose you use Myth TV. My guess is that you'll probably waste ... oh ... 10h getting it working. In a couple of years you'll need to rebuild it from scratch. So let's call that 10h @ $50/h = $500 + $500 worth of hardware. Both of these figures are conservative.

      So that's $1000 for 2y of PVR.

      Or you could buy a TiVo. That's $50-300 + $200 of subscriptions for 2y of PVR (by which time TiVo is bankrupt...). And sales tax. Yada yada yada.

      Then there's your cable TV bill (or are you doing all this for broad

  • Thought for the day... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by pubjames ( 468013 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:00PM (#14193799)

    Everybody is talking about possible future Apple products - the iphone, icamera etc. I think there is a more logical and much more interesting product apple could make - an Apple TV.

    Think about it - Sony and Microsoft are currently battling it out with gaming machines assuming that it's going to become the "media hub" for the home. What if they're completely wrong?

    Apple have got many of the pieces of the puzzle already - Frontrow, itunes, a rock solid OS to base things on.

    I can imagine my old mum and dad buying an Apple TV, but they would never in a million years buy an XBox or playstation.
     

  • How about some free downloads too? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:01PM (#14193807)
    Why not offer some episodes for free as an incentive to download the others?

    For example, why not offer some freebies of more unpopular shows as an incentive to download the popular ones?

    Why can't NBC/SciFi/Steve Jobs just give some things away as a way of saying thanks for all the millions of dollars they make?
  • Please, for the love of all things funny, PLEASE God save Arrested Development using this iTMS deal.

    I'd pay $100 for a season of Arrested Development. I'm 30 years old, and this is the funniest show I've ever seen on TV.

  • Great, but... (Score:2, Redundant)

    by dduardo ( 592868 )
    I'm still waiting for the Ipod Micro so I can watch the shows in High Definition.
  • Apple leads the way again. Quality and simplicity, giving people what they really want. Microsoft will get into this market and mess it up with complexity and buggery. Others will join the fray, and some will be taken and some will be left, while the press and pundits will forsee Apple's demise again and again.

  • Battlestar Galactica (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Hektor_Troy ( 262592 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:11PM (#14193885)
    I thought it was the old show ...

    But no.

    Season 1: $25.87
    Season 2: $1.99/episode

    *drools*

  • Yawn... (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Psarchasm ( 6377 )
    Let me know when 720x400 video is available for download.

    • Re:Yawn... (Score:3, Informative)

      by mblase ( 200735 )
      I've downloaded episodes of "Lost" for viewing on my computer, since I don't own/can't afford a video iPod. I was pleased to see that I could watch it on my 17" monitor from several feet away on the couch and enjoy it -- the quality is comparable to a medium-quality home VHS recording. You could see the pixelation in, say, the stubble on Jack's chin, but printed text was completely legible.

      Now, keep in mind that a 45-minute episode of "Lost" takes 10-20 minutes to download. You want twice the resolution, th

  • What Technology is Behind iTMS? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by johnthorensen ( 539527 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:20PM (#14193963)
    I'm curious as to what technology underlies the iTunes Music Store. Are they using Apple hardware on the hardware side? WebObjects on the software side? If it's an "all-Apple" solution that's a major success story that they ought to be leveraging to sell their server products.

    -JT

  • XBMC? (Score:2)

    by Zelet ( 515452 )
    Is there any way to play these episodes on XBMC? Is there any way to strip the copy protection and just have the file if not?

  • Soon in France... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Sylvain ( 80355 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:45PM (#14194185) Homepage

    Apple was about to open the TV shows download service in France but backed out at the last minute after a market analysis showed that nobody would care unless Apple offers all seasons of MacGyver in HD.

  • Overpriced! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by utexaspunk ( 527541 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @12:48PM (#14194210)
    These shows are ridiculously overpriced. Do the math- we'll look at the highest-rated show, Desperate Housewives:

    Average number of viewers/episode: 17.44mil [yahoo.com]
    Number of ads per show: Probably about 10min of National ads (20 30-second spots), 5 of local ads (10 30-second spots)
    Price per 30-second National spot: $560,000 [sc.edu]
    National ad revenue per show: $11.2m
    Value/viewer: $.64!

    Now, this isn't counting the value of the local ads (which sell in the tens of thousands of $/spot, depending on the market and timeslot), what the show will make in syndication, or DVD sales, but neither is it counting the costs associated with broadcasting television, which are far greater than the cost of hosting a file. I just can't imagine a single show being worth more than a dollar. $2!? I think I'll find [ahem!] other ways to get the shows for a better price point.

    I'd gladly pay a quarter for the rights to watch a 30-min show ad-free for 24hrs, encumbered with DRM and everything. If there were a huge database of these shows, I might even go back at a later date and pay to watch them again. A system like that would have to be at LEAST as profitable as broadcast TV, if not moreso...

  • Leno and Conan (Score:3, Informative)

    by jessecurry ( 820286 ) <jesse@jessecurry.net> on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @01:01PM (#14194311) Homepage Journal
    it seems that the episodes of Leno and Conan are not actually episodes, but collections of segments. I would've really liked to be able to download entire episodes, but at least this is a start.

  • Only 300 episodes? (Score:3, Funny)

    by yardbird ( 165009 ) * on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @01:10PM (#14194397) Homepage
    the PR from Apple stated that their current offering of video stands at approximately 300 episodes.
    That can't be right: with Law & Order, it must be more like 30,000.

  • Just bought some shows off iTMS... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by d0n quix0te ( 304783 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2005 @04:36PM (#14196683)
    I was expecting the quality to suck, but the quality surprised me...! Connected my Powerbook to our board room projector (800x600).... the quality is much better than I anticipated. Granted its not DVD quality, but the image is much better than most TVs.

    I don't know what apple is doing, but the 320x240 video looks better than TV quality. The images are crisp, colors are quite lush and yes, no blotchy spots from bad encoding.

    Took almost 20 minutes to download a 40 min episode... and this on a shared T1. The files are between 110-120 MB each. I can see why they are not doing HD quality... 400-600 MB would take for ever to download... (not everyone has an OC-3 pipe at home....; stuck with Comcast at home....).

    All in all a good compromise between speed and quality. Pleasantly surprised, is more like it!

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