HP announces DVD program so you can watch Barry Bonds over and over and over

HP wants to bring you the news, just like Ron Burgundy.

(Credit: DreamWorks)

At this week's Print 2.0 conference in New York, HP's Digital Entertainment Services group announced a new program called NextDayTV, which will make local TV coverage, events, broadcast programs, and televised sports games available on DVD soon after their original air dates. The inaugural partnership for the program is a deal with Major League Baseball, and you can now purchase a DVD of the game in which Barry Bonds hit his legendary 756th home run at San Francisco Giants Dugout stores as well as online at the Wal-Mart, Major League Baseball, FYE, and Suncoast Web sites.

Still to come are more partnerships, so that NextDayTV will be able to create DVDs on demand, as well as offer more "broadcast TV shows and sporting events that have high relevancy in specific geographic markets or with specific consumer segments" within a few days of their original air dates. Many of these, a release from HP stressed, would never make it to DVD for weeks or months (if ever).

This is obviously designed as a competitor to DVR services (some of which can burn programs to DVDs--others, like the one I have, can't) and digital marketplaces like the iTunes Store. But it seems a little bit counterintuitive for a company to be creating a video content program that uses DVDs rather than digital downloads; presumably the NextDayTV market will be those consumers who aren't jumping onto the video-on-demand and digital-download bandwagon. You know, like your mom.

[LarryLo]

What is this.... 1997?

Oh to be a fly on the wall of the conference room when they gave this product offering the green light.

VP "So what you are saying is, we will sell DVDs of local news and TV station content, and it will be available the next day!"

Product manager "Yes sir, the very next day"

VP "Brilliant!"

(the preceding was a figment of my own imagination and not actual quotes ;)

Good luck to them though. I give this maybe 8 months or so. :)

[Eric Kintz]

Follow up

We are actually also offering video downloads as part of our digital entertainment services, but customers want to keep DVDs also as memoribilias for events such as the Barry Bonmd record.

Check out my blog for live blogging from the HP event in NYC: www.hp.com/blogs/kintz

Eric