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Posts Tagged ‘Tv Shows’

TV networks continue to resist iTunes price cuts

Filed under: Multimedia, Video, iTunes

Apple has been courting US TV networks recently in a bid to get them to drop episode pricing from its current level of $1.99 down to $0.99. The New York Times reports that, predictably, many TV networks are resisting Apple’s push for lower episode prices, even though iTunes’s initial $0.99 per song price point is arguably what made purchasing digital music palatable to consumers.

Music sales through the iTunes store have fallen off recently, at least partially because of record labels’ demands for a price hike to $1.29 per song for popular tracks. Meanwhile, though TV shows have been available for download in the iTunes Store since 2005, only 375 million shows have been downloaded in that time — compared to nearly 9.5 billion songs downloaded over the same period. With a reported 125 million iTunes Store accounts, that equates to an average of 76 song downloads per customer compared to a paltry 3 TV episodes downloaded.

Click the “Read More” link to find out more about the current state of TV on iTunes.
The Times states that “television production is expensive, and the networks are wary of selling shows for less.” However, analysts have stated that TV downloads through iTunes represent a “marginal” or “niche” portion of the market, and this is borne out by the relatively low download numbers. TV episodes are already available from a number of other (legal) sources, and all of them are less expensive than iTunes: free over the air, free over Hulu (in the US anyway), for-pay via a cable subscription, and for-pay via purchases of TV seasons on DVD.

As one example of iTunes’s extremely uncompetitive pricing for TV shows, Season 5 of House, M.D. costs $39.99 on iTunes in Standard Definition, and that’s for the TV shows alone; the same season currently costs $24.49 on Amazon for a DVD box set complete with many special features not available on the iTunes Store. Even if the studios still think charging an extra $15 for digital versions of the same season of the same show is worth it to consumers because of the convenience of one-click downloading, based on the relatively low number of downloads thus far, it’s pretty clear consumers don’t feel the same way.

Although TV networks are reportedly resistant to price reductions, unless they can find a more compelling way to sell digital versions of their shows based on content, the only way they’re going to get more people to download more shows is by budging on the price. Apple has reportedly pitched a $30 per month “subscription” model for popular shows, which could be a compelling alternative to cable TV for many consumers. TV networks haven’t dismissed this proposal outright, but they are experiencing “trepidation” over it according to the Times. However, considering that spread over five years the amount of money that all studios combined are making per year off iTunes Store downloads equates to less than the three-week gross of a popular summer theatrical release, it seems like they have very little to lose.

[Via MacRumors]

TUAWTV networks continue to resist iTunes price cuts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tricking your iPhone to play TV shows and movies in portrait view

Filed under: How-tos, iTunes, iPhone, iPod touch

By default, movies and TV shows in the iPod portion of the iPhone and iPod touch play in landscape view. The biggest change with respect to video orientation came about with iPhone OS 2.0, which provided the option for landscape-right viewing (that is, with the volume and silent/vibrate buttons facing up). While most videos could, and should, be viewed in landscape, there are times that call for a portrait perspective — for example, when placing your iPhone into a dock, which is what I do when working out.

Getting your iPhone to play a movie or TV show in portrait mode requires a simple change in the video’s tag, from TV Show or Movie to Podcast. Simply right-click on the file and select “get info “(or you could use the Command-I shortcut). Then, in the “Media Kind” section within the “Options” tab of the video, select Podcast. Now, the videos will show up in both the Podcasts and Videos section of the iPod portion on your iPhone.

Obviously, this isn’t something you’d want to do with every movie or TV show in your library. So, to revert the file back to its old self, you’d want to follow the same process and change the video back to a TV show or movie.

TUAWTricking your iPhone to play TV shows and movies in portrait view originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox 360 Hard Drive accessory bumped to 250GB in Japan

On March 11th, Microsoft will kick out its 250GB external hard drive to the good people of Japan; notable, as the first time that this 250GB drive has been sold anywhere outside of a new console bundle. The slab of external magnetic storage is set to cost ¥15,540 or about $172 should it ever ship Stateside. Unfortunately, Microsoft isn’t revealing its plans for that at the moment while conceding the need for more local storage for content such as software, TV shows, and movies downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace. In other words, you’ll get your storage bump… someday.

Xbox 360 Hard Drive accessory bumped to 250GB in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DirecTV 3D broadcasts coming in early 2010?

Finding itself with a wealth of a additional bandwidth thanks to a new satellite going up today, DirecTV may have already decided its first big addition will be 3D. Citing the always popular unnamed sources, HD Guru says we should prepare for a CES announcement that the bird will be up and running by March beaming down a collection of movies, sports and TV shows in 3D HD, requiring only a firmware upgrade on existing set-top boxes to tune into the new stations. UK satellite provider Sky has already tipped its hand about 2010 3D plans, with a newly freshened HDMI spec expected to ease things along and nearly every manufacturer either already producing compatible displays or planning to announce them in less than a week there’s very little doubt remaining about whether broadcast 3D is coming home this year, only how and when.

DirecTV 3D broadcasts coming in early 2010? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roku adds 10 new free content channels for its set-top video players

Roku offers a trio of set-top boxes that can download movies and TV shows from the web and show them on your TV. Now the company is adding 10 new free content channels to its service.

You can use a Roku box with a Netflix subscription or the Amazon Video on Demand service to watch movies or TV shows on your TV. You connect a Roku box to both your TV and the web. Then you can cruise through the Netflix catalog and watch movies instantly as they stream via Wi-Fi or Ethernet to your TV set.

Now Saratoga, Calif.-based Roku is adding access to these sites: Blip.tv, Facebook Photos, Flickr, FrameChannel, Mediafly, MobileTribe, Motionbox, Pandora, Revision3 and TWiT. The sites cover everything from Internet audio to video podcasts to professional web content and photo sharing. You can access all of the sites on the TV using the Roku Channel Store. The aim is the give consumers more choice and control over their Roku player experience, said Anthony Wood, chief executive and founder of Roku.

Roku has opened up its channel store to developers who can add their own content channels in the future. Consumers can access the store by creating a Roku account, which lets them manage their channels and personalize their entertainment options. Roku customers can add or delete channels as they wish, and they can browse through new channels as developers create them.

Roku’s three players are the Roku SD, the Roku HD, and the Roku HD-XR. All are compatible with the Roku Channel Store. The store will be delivered to all existing Roku customers in the next two weeks. The company, founded in 2002, launched its first box in May 2008 and updated the models in October. The Roku SD sells for $80.

Roku has 50 employees. It competes with Apple TV, Vudu, Tivo, and connected Blu-ray movie players, not to mention cable TV services. The company’s investors include Wood, Netflix and Menlo Ventures. The company says it has sold hundreds of thousands of units.

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What “On-demand” Media Really Means And Why Your Cable Company Should Be Scared
I’ve been angling to get rid of my TiVo and cable for some time now and I believe I’ve finally figured out a solution that works best for me. It involves a lots scripting, Sabnzbd, and HandbrakeCLI and I’ll tell you what I ultimately did next week once it’s stable but it seems to be working as well as can be expected for these sorts of hacks.

I posit that the TV industry is about to face the same threat dealt the music and movie industries but they still have a chance to make things better for themselves when the world changes around them. First, let’s rehash the old arguments.

What I’m doing is downloading TV shows and sending them to a media player near my TV. I’m doing this because there exist two separate infrastructures that interface imperceptibly at one key point – the official cable and online distribution networks and the shady underworld of pirate distributors. Right now that interface is a trickle, but it will soon be, pardon the pun, a torrent.

The first infrastructure is the studio system. While I’m talking specifically about TV here, we can also extrapolate to talk about movies and music. This infrastructure is based on the advertising or distribution model in that they make all their money placing advertisements around their content or by placing their content onto physical media. But what is important to note is that the TV industry is in a completely different business from the music and movie industry. They’re not “selling” a product. They’re selling the space around a product. They they commission artists to make that product better in hopes of raising the price of the space around that product. They sell DVDs, sure, but that’s a sideline.

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Hulu to Add Subscription Services, Pay-per-View, Hints Murdoch

At an investor conference held earlier this week, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker revealed that they were looking at new ways to help monetize their joint venture, the video-streaming service Hulu.com. The site, a popular web destination featuring movies and TV shows from content partners including Fox, ABC, Disney, and, of course, NBC Universal, reaches anywhere from 9 million to 42 million users per month, depending who you ask. Although the hosted content is currently ad-supported by way of commercials interspersed into the video streams, the company is interested in exploring other revenue options as well, specifically subscription services and pay-per-view programs.

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According to a recent report from Multichannel News, Murdoch was quoted at the conference as saying “Are we looking at it with a view toward adding subscription services and pay per view? Yes we are.” However, he was quick to add that “no decisions have been made yet.”

NBC’s Zucker also hinted at the company’s interest in the matter. “Whether there are other ways to monetize Hulu down the road, it is something that we are open to, something we will explore,” he said, but like Murdoch, reiterated “there are no plans at this time.”

Subscription Services Already in Testing?

While that may be the official company line, other sites are reporting a slightly different variation on this story. The Business of Video blog, for example, says they’ve been in contact with sources who have confirmed that Hulu is already beta testing a subscription-based service internally and is working out the technical requirements. If that story is to be believed, the offering won’t go live anytime this year as Hulu still needs to figure out the details of the business plan.

Whether or not that rumor is true, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear that Hulu is working on such a project, given their obvious interest in adding more revenue-generating features to the site. Zucker himself even updated his ongoing conference comment about “analog dollars” being used to chase “digital dimes.” (In 2008, it was “digital pennies.”) “Certainly by next year the goal should be at least quarters,” he joked.

What We Want to See: Premium Channels on Hulu

Subscription services would be a brilliant way to chase those quarters, indeed. Perhaps it could even convince cable-only paid channels like HBO and Showtime to get on board with the venture. They’ve already tentatively given iTunes a shot, but still seem reluctant to share current episodes in a timely fashion on that service. The reason for the networks’ timidity is because their iTunes revenue simply doesn’t compare to their cable TV subscription offerings or even their DVD sales. (Ironically, that’s probably due to the fact that they don’t offer current programs via iTunes!). Instead, they would rather entice consumers to subscribe by tempting them with their backcatalog of programming.

However, if the situation was to change and consumers could subscribe to these channels online for a comparable fee to what the companies generate through cable TV distribution, would they continue to put up such resistance? After all, money is money, who cares where it comes from?

These days, more and more consumers are pinching pennies by cancelling cable subscriptions thanks to the numerous alternatives available online. Obviously, premium channels are getting the boot, too. Imagine if they could have a chance to win back some of those penny-pinching former subscribers by way of an online subscription service. After all, what would you give for piecemeal plans that let you buy a 3-month pass to HBO instead of the all-or-nothing combo packages available via your cable TV provider?

Of course, all this is just wishful thinking on our part, but if Hulu does it right, the possibilities for their new TV distribution network are virtually endless.

Discuss

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