Comments on: (Online TV) Freedom is on the March: NBC, ABC Deals Make More Shows Available Online

By: Eric Berlin

Eric Berlin — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:54:39 +0000

I would certainly be tempted to go off the deep end, snatching up classics like Buffy and The Shield and The Wire… but yeah, not keeping up with the latest and greatest would be a bit strange. Part of the adventure of living abroad, I suppose!

By: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:27:00 +0000

The bootleg DVD market is gigantic here. This includes TV shows. I just bought the entire series of the X-Files for what amounts to about fifty dollars! Thats about 70 cents a disk.

They even do shows that haven’t officially been released on DVD yet. Like my sister had the first season of 30 Rock weeks before it actually hit the streets. True, it was obviously straight off of a DVD as it still contained whatever local stations ID bubble at the bottom of the screen and periodically you’d see animation for their upcoming shows, but there weren’t any commercials and the quality was good.

So I suspect for the shows I want to watch I’ll have an outlet. I was just hoping to watch them at the same time as everybody else. But that’s the breaks I guess.

By: Eric Berlin

Eric Berlin — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:09:26 +0000

Dirk, I’m a fan of great TV (a huge geek about it actually, don’t get me started!) and am excited about the prospect of getting to see more of it wherever and however I want. And yes, the less advertising I have to endure the better, I agree.

Mat, you’re certainly getting an education in many things while abroad, including the fact that the web ain’t always so world wide! A good friend of mine worked in India for the state department a few year’s back, and satiated his thirst for western entertainment by ordering DVDs and books via Amazon. I have a feeling that this was possible only because he worked for the US government. I did a quick check on Amazon’s front page and discovered that they do offer services in China — maybe this’ll be helpful, if not necessarily cheap?

By: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 04:40:39 +0000

Once again I am getting screwed in Shanghai. But this time it isn’t the great firewall of china’s fault. Thus far all of the network TV I’ve tried to stream online doesn’t work because the networks won’t allow it to play in a non-US country. Or at least in this non-US country.

They don’t say so but I suspect it is all due to concerns over the shows being saved to hard drives and then being bit torrented. Fair enough I guess since I do live in the bootleg capital of the world, but all it really does is make me go buy an illegal copy on DVD when they hit the streets. And thus no money goes into the network pocket.

By: Dirk Hanson

Dirk Hanson — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:54:47 +0000

Almost anything that finishes off TV in its present form gets my vote.

So you and I would seem to agree on the basic premise: Kill your (traditional) television!

By: Eric Berlin

Eric Berlin — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 05:42:30 +0000

Dirk, I haven’t had to endure an hour of television replete with commercials in a very long time, so perhaps I agree with you! The DVR has completely changed the way I consume television shows (on the traditional television, a new caveat I fear we may have to start using very soon) but that’s a topic for a different time.

I do think that the standard model will shake out as something like very short pre-roll, perhaps a mid-roll, and post-roll with roll over advertising (that invites clicks for more info/entertainment/activity) and product placement thrown into the mix.

It’s very interesting that NBC is taking on iTunes though — and I think that will be a good thing for people looking to get more quality video/television shows online at the cheapest price and at the best possible user experience.

By: Dirk Hanson

Dirk Hanson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:35:23 +0000

Eric, here again, an intriguing difference of opinion. I am pathetically grateful for the chance to buy a television show which has already been gutted of all mind-numbing commercials for only a buck ninety-nine! A bargain at twice the price, as my grandmother used to say.

Not only does the new free NBC approach come riddled with extant commercials which CANNOT be zapped, as I understand it, the TV show itself also self-destructs after 7 days, or something like that.

It’s free, but in the end, they take it back.