ABC Affiliates Grapple With TV-Show Downloads 480
Carl Bialik writes "By making an episode of 'Lost' available for download last week just half a day after it aired, for a $1.99 charge, 'Apple may have helped open a Pandora's box for the media business,' the Wall Street Journal reports. The president of the association representing ABC's affiliate stations sent a letter to the president of ABC, reading in part, 'It is both disappointing and unsettling that ABC would embark on a new -- and competitive -- network program distribution partnership without the fundamental courtesy of consultation' with its affiliates. While the extent of Apple's TV downloads is limited, the Journal parses the potential impact: 'if downloading episodes over the Internet proves popular, analysts believe Apple will get permission to offer shows with better-fidelity pictures. Any success Apple has won't go unnoticed by other online media powerhouses with expanding video initiatives like Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which could all help extend TV downloading to more viewers.'"
Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
P.S., Ted, thanks for the buffalo ranching, but there is more money to be made still in media. Don't give up.
to quote Dave Letterman: What is WRONG with you? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sometimes I want to pull my hair out!
Exactly how is this bad for the affiliate stations? For a nano second I can't imagine this didn't help these affiliates. How much you wanna bet the viewership was up for the episode of Lost following the announcement of the video iPod? Peoples' normal reactions would be along the lines of:
I don't think any of the above are off-the-scale guesses of peoples' reactions and I think the viewership because of the video iPod could actually increase!
But, let's assume the death star, end-of-the-universe scenario the affiliates and others see this as. They see this as a threat rather than an extension. So, if it is true, boo-hoo!
Thank goodness the lobbyists and power brokers circling the wagons today for the hapless industry wasn't present in the late 19th and early 20th century to protect the horse and buggy industry in the same way... We'd have no cars today (since that would have threatened the established travel industry).
(So, for the record, does anyone know what the comparison was for Lost pre- vs. post-video iPod announcement? I don't really care, but it'd be interesting to know.)
New Business Model (Score:5, Insightful)
Boo Freakin' Hoo... (Score:5, Insightful)
At that point, any content I can't get online, I simply will do without. Sell me entertainment online, or sell me nothing. It makes no difference to me. There's plenty of free and legal clips of amusement here and there at least as worthwhile as the junk they air on TV anyway.
Besides, I find reading books and doing technical reading online is a better use of my time than watching television in the first place.
Re:....oooooooooor (Score:2, Insightful)
Once upon a time when bittorent was new I'd agree with you. I the Bablyon 5 Pilot Movie in 15 minutes back then. Today it would probably take me 20 hours to download. What Apple is attempting could still fill a niche because I'm not waiting a 20 hours to watch something I want to see on a whim.
hah wtf! (Score:2, Insightful)
it's incredable these people haven't be investigated for anti competitive behaviour yet.
Tivo now solving a problem that ceases to exist (Score:5, Insightful)
It makes no sense any longer for people to do ANYTHING but download shows and access the contents as they please, when they please. That's what Apple is opening up to the mass market for current TV, and what people will most naturally except. Fighting this migration is a loosing battle.
I really feel like as cool as Tivo is, it's trapped between a rock and a hard place. The rock are media companies that are unsure about people being able to record anything. The hard place is when people discover they like random media so much, they'd rather just download everything and use it that way. Apple is taking over the space Tivo could have if they'd started looking at a downloadable TV market.
Television for the masses... FINALLY... (Score:2, Insightful)
this Pandora's box can be closed (Score:3, Insightful)
PVR to Ipod (Score:2, Insightful)
I could see Tivo making out well if they made it easy for ipod video users to sync to their PVR.
Thank you Apple! (Score:5, Insightful)
The day when I can download my latest episodes of SG1 or my girlfriends O.C for $1.99 rather than wait 6-9months for it to come on TV in the UK is the day that I stop using eMule!
Thank you Apple you found the only way to stop priacy.
Re:Choice (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm a fan of Apple (just bought some shares too), but am I the only one who thinks that Apple's threat lurking in the far dark future might be antitrust litigation? I only see them grabbing more marketshare of the devices, of the online music business, not to mention that they just created another market with this portable device video clip downloading. It's clear they're only going uphill and accelerating too, but even though Apple's been that underdog company to Microsoft, the engine that could, they're not immune from the government.
Re:Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:to quote Dave Letterman: What is WRONG with you (Score:5, Insightful)
That particular episode of Lost is irrelevant in the big picture. The issue is whether the network is going to undercut its affiliates by building an alternate distribution model.
Re:New Business Model (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:to quote Dave Letterman: What is WRONG with you (Score:2, Insightful)
The business model is that shows are only available as a television broadcast or DVD purchase. Sure, you have Tivo, but that's still television.
Now, you're taking the content of television and putting it onto a new medium: the digital medium. Networks are going to throw up rad flags, thinking "WE'RE GOING TO LOSE MONEY! FUCK!"
Then again, digital content is a hot-topic issue (see: illegal use of P2P apps). This is a natural extension of that paranoia.
"If downloading episodes over the Internet..." (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh, what do they mean if? It's already exceedingly popular on BitTorrent and the like, just not sanctioned by the media companies until now (OK, the BBC is doing it but not many others). The genie is already out of this bottle and yet another industry wants to bury it's head in the sand. They have to realize that people, including myself, are willing to pay money to see shows we've missed or cannot get in our area. Where's a capitalist when you need one? Steve Jobs yet again has pulled off a marvelous coup and now the affliates, Hollywood, SAG and anyone else who didn't have the forsight to start this on there own want a piece.
Re:PVR to Ipod (Score:5, Insightful)
Because for many consumers it is simply too hard to set up the computer to record the show, edit out the commercials, compress it in a suitable format and copy it across to the player. Then there is even a subset of geeks like me that can easily do it but just couldn't be bothered.
It's TV after all; a bit of entertainment after a hard day at work. I just want to watch the show, not muck around with recordings, having to preview it by editing out commercials first etc. For $2 - I'll pay that!
With the same logic, why spend up to $5 at Starbucks to buy a coffee when I could just buy some beans, grind them myself, brew, froth the milk, and serve for next to nothing?
There will always be smart people like yourself willing to go the extra mile to save a buck, but the majority simply don't care.
Re:Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
Feh, who am I kidding. That's exactly what they are going to do, all the while frantically trying to buy legislation to protect their business model, no matter how shortsighted and dumb it makes them look.
Re:to quote Dave Letterman: What is WRONG with you (Score:3, Insightful)
The affiliates should be scared, because today's TV mechanism is silly and out of date. The very idea of a "channel" is meaningless. And the advertisers are paying approx. $1/per hour to the stations for my time. $1 per hour! At that rate I will gladly outbid the advertisers to reclaim my time. And unlike bittorrent and unrestricted PVR's, legal downloads probably won't have the law working against them. Be afraid, affiliates, be very afraid.
Communication Studies 101 (Score:1, Insightful)
Answer: To show quality shows that everyone can enjoy.
errrrrr
WRONG
An affiliate broadcast TV station has one goal: To create revenue for the stockholders. This is done through advertising. Lost/Cosby show/Nighstalker/Full house whatever the show is has one purpose: Attract viewers so they can watch more advertising.
To think that consumers can get content from broadcast TV without commercials and advertising will for sure cause a stirr when the reason affiliates exist is to make money.
commercials (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:"If downloading episodes over the Internet..." (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I would buy TV shows (Score:3, Insightful)
Where in the world are you buying your cable TV from? Or is this one of those classic Slashdot price exaggerations like "CD's cost $20" when they really cost $12 from any large retailer? (Even the grossly overpriced music stores in the mall charge $18 or so for a CD)
I've never seen basic cable cost over $40 per month, and digital satellite companies have plans starting at $30 per month. I'm all for "sticking it to the man", but exaggerating prices at every opportunity doesn't make us sound like a reasonable group.
Re:to quote Dave Letterman: What is WRONG with you (Score:3, Insightful)
What's happening here is that the affiliates are seeing the writing on the wall. Downloads of shows aren't going to make a dent for a while but they could. If a significant amount of the viewership starts watching their TV shows via Apple's downloads then that is that many less people watching it on the air and seeing ads. TV stations know this as do the advertisers. Advertisers will not be willing to pay as much for those ad slots because there's less on-air viewership for that show at that time on that station.
The networks are going to make money either way as they are playing both ends against the middle. They make money from the affiliate licenses as well as from downloads from Apple. TV stations are just going to have to cope. This isn't going to go away. They'll have to find another way to keep their local viewership up.
Fine for established shows but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Choice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Translation from Weasel follows: (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't for a moment think that affiliate demands on the network are all one-sided. Maintaining affiliate status means a station has to comply with all kinds of rules set by the network too.
ABC is not simply acting as an independent agent, they are, in some sense, unilaterally re-writing their contracts with their affiliates. I would be damn pissed too if one of my clients decided that they could get away with rewriting our contract, in their favor, with no negotiation.
I agree that the net has changed things and it is high-fucking-time the television industry started to catch up, but don't go thinking ABC or even Apple is the white hat in this episode of the drama - its a lot more complex than that.
Re:Television for the masses... FINALLY... (Score:2, Insightful)
Not solved unless... (Score:5, Insightful)
...you're going to tell me how Apple is going to cram a 35 inch screen inside your iPod case.
OK, so you can take your episode of Lost with you, and watch it on your pocket TV. Pocket TVs have been around for...what, more than a decade? How many people do you know stopped buying 25, 32, 50 inch TVs for their house, and multi-thousand dollar sound systems to plug those TVs into, because, well golly gee, now they can put their TV in their pocket.
iPod TV downloads and TiVo solve different problems related to TV viewing. The new iPod service lets you take portable TV shows with you. TiVo lets you time shift, search and archive, and if you have the personal motivation to set up TivoToGo and upgrade your PocketPC handheld with the right WMP software, take portable TV shows with you.
So really, the only thing the new iPod/ABC service does is remove the requirement that your TiVo be available at the time the show comes on the TV. Of course, it's not like you actually have to do anything to make your TiVo record...just set up the season pass, and they'll be there, assuming the show aired in the first place.
All the iPod/ABC service does is remove the requirement for the show to have aired at its original time. And it still has the shortcoming of only being watchable on a screen that, at it's best, is less than a quarter the size of the smallest laptop I've used in the last 5 years.
I wouldn't start the funeral dirge for PVRs and PVR services yet. Not unless that's a TV in your pocket, and not just that you're happy to see me.
Re:hah wtf! (Score:3, Insightful)
Not exactly. Local affiliates pay for the right to rebroadcast content. Now ABC is comming along and saying that they will by-pass the local affiliates and sell content directly.
They have every reason to be annoyed. What would be more fair and reasonable is if ABC would license content for sale by the local affiliates. This seems the best way to not muck with an existing business model that works yet incorperate new technology into the mix.
They may be blood sucking parasites, but they are blood sucking parasites who have entered into prior agreements in good faith.
Re:Interesting pricing structures.... (Score:2, Insightful)
I've never understood this... how can you call yourself a music fan if you're not willing to support the artist that you're listening to? I bought a piece of vinyl (Wolf Parade) and a cd (Metric) this weekend, coming to a total of $40. I will continue to do this for as long as possible, because I have respect for the artists that put so much into their work... In this day and age, a good record is about the best value you can find.
Television Advertising Executives.. (Score:3, Insightful)
While I seriously doubt that we will ever completly be rid of TV with commercials, I do suspect that at some point, that the TV viewing audience will be limited to the following:
1) Viewing Live Events
2) Viewing low quality shows
3) Those destitute enough to not afford to download favorite shows.
If viewers can pay to download a TV show they want to see, and keep it as long as they want, it will lead to several consequences. The first is that as noted in the article, the downloaded version of the show may be available in a higher definition. The second is that since its not broadcast, you wont have to worry about the FCC censoring naughty words or naughty images. The third is that the shows will no longer be forced to allow commercial breaks, and can run longer or shorter as needed by the story of that episode.
This in turn could create the possibility that the version of the show that gets broadcast will be the inferior version of the show. And if your a true fan of the show, why settle for the crappy version?
On top of that, once yoru no longer beholden to the schedule of the broadcaster, why be limted to watching only what they want to show you? If your a hard core sci-fi fan, why waste time with sitcoms? You could just download shows like every episode Star Trek, Battle Star Galactica, X-Files, Babylon 5, Firefly, and whatever else you actually want to watch. I am sure that the content providers will have no objections to selling to you from their back catalog.
When (not if) downloading a selected version of a TV show becomes viable choice, TV Advertisers will be largely screwed.
Welcome to the Revolution!
END COMMUNICATION
Re:iTorrent? (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, people might not be thrilled about donating their upstream bandwidth to help defray's Apple's bandwidth costs... and I guarantee you that some people will frame it that way.
Oh, boo-f'ing-hoo (Score:3, Insightful)
You mean like the rest of us got used to the idea of having our jobs outsourced to east Crapistan? I don't remember any consultation for that, do you guys?
So what's stopping you from forming a local group and developing your own content? Maybe that idea would occur to you if you weren't so busy whining about the world moving on.
This is what capitalism is all about. New technolgies arise and induce change. The market adapts and either business adapts or goes the way of RCA. You can either keep whining to the parent network, hoping they'll throw you a bone to get you to shut up. Or you can start understanding the new environment and content creation and get off your big, fat rolling in cash TV ass and learn to operate in the new reality.
ooooor Usenet (Score:1, Insightful)
Now content is dependant on your ISP's retention, but downloads are usually extremely fast. Alternately you can use a pay Usenet service like EasyNews [easynews.com] or Giganews [giganews.com] which have crazy retention periods.
How do you know what's up there and which group to access to find it? The handy dandy site newzBin [newzbin.com] is a searchable index of binary files available on Usenet.
I have Tivo and use it for a lot of stuff, but I started just grabbing HDTV rips of Battlestar Galactica off Usenet because the quality was so good.
Undercut (Score:3, Insightful)
Yay for content producers (Score:1, Insightful)
- movie (usually 1.5-2.5 hours, but sometimes shorter or longer; one-time event, possibly followed by sequels after a couple years)
- TV show (30 or 60 minutes, minus commercials; weekly, with a yearly break to cut it up into "seasons")
HBO (among others) has had success doing a "mini-series", which is basically "an hour or two now and then, for some number of weeks". And countless film directors have tried to get around this by making a 2.5 hour movie, then releasing the "director's cut" (a 3-4 hour super-movie) when the DVD is released.
But if downloading becomes a primary way to get media, we're no longer limited to any particular format. If you want to make a 8-hour movie, go for it. If you want to split it up at natural breaks, instead of forcing every section to be exactly the same length, that's fine. If your shots don't lend to commercial breaks every
Also, the pool of content *producers* is no longer limited. It takes a lot of money to put something on broadcast TV. Any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a $1000 DV camera and Final Cut Pro can make a movie, and now he can distribute it. That is, assuming they eventually let independent artists use the new system, too, but (judging from the iTMS) I can't see why they wouldn't.
Apple brought desktop publishing to the masses in the 80's with Macintosh + Laserwriter. They brought music to the masses with iTunes + iTunes Music Store + GarageBand. I can see this, in a couple years, doing the same for video.
And if the local ABC station goes out of business, well, I'm not going to lose any sleep over that -- just as I wouldn't cry if the local paper went out of business because some guy bought a Laserwriter. If you don't produce something people want better than the other guys, you go out of business. Welcome to the free market.
Finally! someone gets it! (Score:1, Insightful)
Consumers are ready, there are more and more video capable players kicking around, and if enough big players follow suite, I can see the day when you'll be able to watch a simpsons on TV, and order it right away on your cell-phone (for $2
Perhaps we could even see shows that could download in advance, and "unlock" once they actually air, or offer real fans of the show the option to see the show a half hour early online... Wow, the marketing possibilities are making my head spin...
GO APPLE
Now, if we can only convince Sony to follow suite, and open up their entertainment properties to legal downloading, perhaps they could help stem the tide of red ink... and Microsoft and Intel will DRM everything, but hey, none of that matters, because we'll finally be able to legally bring our favorite shows with us...
I wonder if they will still have commercials....
Re:Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because those headphones are great.
The point you are missing is huge: Apple is gaining a big group of followers simply by giving them what they want, and not through "evil" means.
Lower your weapons and think again. Popular doesn't mean evil.
Re:Choice (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, apple's doing the exact same thing as Microsoft, but you don't see people making a fuss because people are apparently quite fond of iTunes. Additionally, I think that seamless intrgration of desktop applications into the Operating System is becoming a given.
Go ask a mac developor what he'd do without quicktime, or ask a windows developer what he'd do without mshtml.dll.
Also, you don't see apple entering into any "exclusive online distribution agreements" with major labels (that I know of). As far as I see it, the only anti-competitive behavior apple's shown is their proprietary encrypted-AAC fileformat.
Re:Prices (Score:3, Insightful)
Music is generally pretty cheap to make. Nowadays you don't need expensive studios or musicians, nearly everything is done with pro-track. And let's face it; the artists rarely ever get paid unless they can stretch a career out for several years. That's why I think a dollar is too much. I'd probably pay 10 cents a song if it was in a lossless format.
However, TVs shows have executive producers, producers, directors, gaffers, camera people, HIGHLY paid actors, writers, etc. All who are unionized and all who get paid a damn lot. Hit shows are incredibly expensive to make. Even a successful shows like Friends never made a profit in primetime, NBC will make its profit in reruns and DVD sales. Considering all that I consider two bucks a barging, but not at the ridiculously low resolution Apple is selling them for.
Dude, read the article more closely. (Score:2, Insightful)
This is a far more subtle relationship than your "business models change, you have to adapt or die" dismissal warrants.
Re:content quality vs. distribution mechanism (Score:3, Insightful)
You cannot "solve" creativity by throwing more resources at it; advancing technology will never change that fact.
(Care to give us an example of what you will deign to watch, so we can understand why you pooh-pooh one of the best shows on TV right now?)
Re:Choice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Paid downloads by the numbers (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Choice (Score:3, Insightful)
Connect the dots together,man... ABC is owned by Disney. Disney has a reckoning coming with Pixar, who has single-handedly saved their animation ass, and they need to renegotiate the contracts. Pixar is owned by Jobs. The last boss at Disney decided to play hardball with Jobs, and now that guy's gone. New guy won't make the same mistake.
Listen to what you are saying (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has never been about doing things that are totally new. They just take things people would like to do and make them inviting for everyone to actually partake of.
Re:Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean you get commercial free television with your antenna, for free? And you're able to call up whatever television you want JUST with your antenna? Wow. That's incredible.
Give me something I can't already get for free
A commercial free program that is yours forever. That's something you can't get for free (unless you use a video or CD, which can be lost or destroyed).
Slashdotters have often complained about there not being a commercial alternative to illegally downloading television shows. Slashdotters often said that they would happily pay a few bucks to download episodes legally. Now there finally is a legal alternative, and people are complaining about it just being a replica of what's provided for free on tv. Typical.
Re:Choice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Thank you Apple! (Score:5, Insightful)
The day when I can download my latest episodes of SG1 or my girlfriends O.C for $1.99 rather than wait 6-9months for it to come on TV in the UK is the day that I stop using eMule!
I doubt that you will be able to do that, even with TV shows available on iTMS. I think that TV shows are still going to follow regional distribution and will only be released in a country's iTMS after it is aired in that country, even if it is already available in the iTMS of another country. The TV shows are only available in the US iTMS at the moment, and not in the UK iTMS. Even when the other countries get TV shows in their iTMS, they may still not be as up-to-date as the US store.
I think one of the reasons the record companies have co-operated so well with the iTMS is because it preserves the regional distribution business model their industry is based on, which just so happens to be the same model for the film and television industries. And if you think about it, the iTMS regional distribution method somewhat resembles DVD region coding, so it most likely will be used in the same manner.
Re:Thank you Apple! (Score:3, Insightful)
iTunes and iPod is easy. That's why it's winning.
Re:Thank you Apple! (Score:5, Insightful)
US: $1.99 per movie
UK: £1.89 per movie. That's US$3.33 for fuck's sake.
That's not price parity, that is gouging.
-Nano.
Re:to quote Dave Letterman: What is WRONG with you (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Dude, read the article more closely. (Score:3, Insightful)
Look, if you choose to go into business with an entirely slimy, underhanded, and utterly vile business like a major media conglomerate (*any* major media conglomerate) then when you get fucked you whine like a little bitch, then you are being a crybaby.
You (not you you, the same you as above) are also demonstrating your own idiocy, lack of foresight, and hypocricy.
These affiliates have chosen to do business with companies who are actively working to dumb down the population and turn them into nothing but drooling consumers.
Now, it certainly isn't a positive thing that this only has the potential to hurt the affiliates and not the main corporation, but to complain that since you are in the business of fucking people that it's bad that you get fucked is nothing but idiotic whining.
Re:Thank you Apple! (Score:3, Insightful)
Boy did I get that wrong.
The one thing that is seriously missing from the equation is DVDs. Since the video can't be burned I would like to have the ability to put my DVD collection into iTunes. One click and it downloads the video into Apples copy protected format. I can put them on my iPod and take them with me when I travel. When I get to my destination I plug into a TV with the supplied cable and viola the kids can watch their DVDs. I honestly wouldn't even mind if they downsampled the video to native TV resolution if that helped the MPAA not have seizures that you can put a dvd on the ipod.
And yes, I know that I can use OSS tools and spend a little time converting all my video files to Mpeg4 or h.264 but for the masses a one click solution from Apple would work best.