Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Apple Adds More TV Show Downloads
Posted by Jeremy Charette in "CONTENT" @ 11:00 AM
"Apple has beefed up its video downloads on iTunes through a deal with NBC Universal. The agreement brings 11 TV shows from NBC, USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel, which include current primetime hits as well as classics such as 'Dragnet' and 'Knight Rider.' iTunes now offers more than 300 different episodes for download across 16 television programs. Each show costs $1.99 and can be viewed on a PC or the new fifth-generation iPod, which can output to a TV. The new shows add to Apple's previous content from ABC and include, NBC's 'Law & Order,' 'The Office,' 'Surface,' 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,' 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien,' the USA Network's 'Monk' and Sci-Fi Channel's 'Battlestar Galactica.' Classic episodes from 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and 'Adam-12' are also available in addition to 'Dragnet' and 'Knight Rider.'"
Apple's experiment has officially ended. Downloading videos through iTunes and playing them back on your iPod is no longer a "neat trick", it's a full fledged business model. CBS is rumored to be authoring a deal with Apple as well, and I would venture to guess that Fox is not far behind. The iPod is by no means the best portable video player on the market, but the smashing success of the latest iPod (with video) demonstrates the newest corporate strategy: market saturation. Apple built brand awareness with the first 4 generations of the iPod (and it's successors), then piggybacked video playback and distribution capabilities onto the latest generation. With such a large installed user base, the number of potential contributors to Apple's revenue stream is huge. Microsoft is taking a similar tact with the Xbox 360, using it to promote sales of it's Windows Media Center Edition. Windows Vista will incorporate MCE functionality into nearly every PC made, exposing tens of millions of users to Microsoft's content distribution stream. It's a technological ambush on consumers' wallets.
Apple's experiment has officially ended. Downloading videos through iTunes and playing them back on your iPod is no longer a "neat trick", it's a full fledged business model. CBS is rumored to be authoring a deal with Apple as well, and I would venture to guess that Fox is not far behind. The iPod is by no means the best portable video player on the market, but the smashing success of the latest iPod (with video) demonstrates the newest corporate strategy: market saturation. Apple built brand awareness with the first 4 generations of the iPod (and it's successors), then piggybacked video playback and distribution capabilities onto the latest generation. With such a large installed user base, the number of potential contributors to Apple's revenue stream is huge. Microsoft is taking a similar tact with the Xbox 360, using it to promote sales of it's Windows Media Center Edition. Windows Vista will incorporate MCE functionality into nearly every PC made, exposing tens of millions of users to Microsoft's content distribution stream. It's a technological ambush on consumers' wallets.
