Comments on: Report: Apple should kiss and make up with NBC...fast

Forrester analyst James McQuivey says Apple needs to supply iPod owners with premium content and can't afford to let a top TV network get away.

[rubenerd]

I don't live in the US...

I, like most people in the world don't live in the US, and as long as Apple and the media companies refuse to acknowledge our existence by refusing to sell to us, they don't matter at all to us, full stop.

That said, I tend to enjoy British television more though, anyone know where I can legally purchase and download episodes of The Brittas Empire, Dr Who and Red Dwarf? :)

[Seaspray0]

available for purchase

"anyone know where I can legally purchase and download episodes of The Brittas Empire, Dr Who and Red Dwarf?" Have you looked on the internet? I found this link in a matter of minutes by googling:

"red dwarf" episodes for sale

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dwarf-1-2/dp/B00007JZUB

[cvaldes1831]

4th ranked network

First of all, NBC is in the cellar. They don't get to call the shots.

Second, consumers have already decided. They want to go to a big-box store (iTunes Store) and get all their mainstream content there. They don't want to visit individual network sites, movie studios for downloads. Consumers don't give a sh*t who the network is.

[Nicholas Buenk]

What nonsense

Going by this story, you'd think that people would never have got music on ipods
without the itunes store.
In reality, there are plenty of ways to get video onto an ipod without going through the
itunes store.
There is plenty of software you can find for converting video to ipod compatible types.
I can rip a DVD and put it on my ipod. I can just go to blockbuster, pick up a TV series
DVD collection and put it on my ipod.
I can record a show off TV with a tv card/usb stick and convert it to my ipod, some
software will even do this automatically for you and put it in the itunes library so it's
automatically synced when you next plug in ipod.
Video podcasts, including cnet TV, is one way of getting video content onto the ipod.
And the pirate bay or other such sites, download content and put it on the ipod.
This article makes one foolish mistake, which is suggesting that itunes store is the only
way to get video content on the ipod. NBC has more to lose by not being on itunes,
and that instead of people paying $2 a show, people will turn to piracy or other
methods of getting NBC content. In either case, there's plenty of reason to by the ipod
as getting content on it is not difficult whether you use the itunes store or not.

[CouchGuy]

Forrester - and NBC - are clueless!

All the people who think NBC doesn't need iTunes are missing
the point. NBC.com and the (still beta) hulu.com may offer ways
to watch NBC shows on your PC -- but people don't, for the
most part, want to watch TV on their PCs! They want to watch TV
on their big screen sets in the comfort of their family rooms, or
on the go on portable devices like video-capable iPods. (And
have you seen the way the new iPod Nano is flying out of stores?
There are going to be a LOT of video-capable iPods out there
come Christmas morning!) Those of us who want this viewing
experience are willing to pay for the privilege, as long as we can
do so without a lot of hassle. That's what the iTunes/iPod/Apple
TV ecosystem offers. If I can't buy ad-free NBC shows for $1.99
(and I've bought a LOT of them up to now, including full seasons
of stuff I missed first time around), I'll record them with my
EyeTV and NBC gets no additional revenue. A lot of folks will just
download them via BitTorrent, again depriving NBC of easy
money. NBC/Universal is having a hissy fit any parent of a three-
year-old will recognize instantly. NBC is cutting its own wrists,
hoping Apple will give NBC what it wants (the ability to screw
the iTunes customer) rather than have the mess and bother of
mopping up when NBC bleeds out all over the nice clean floor. I
say let NBC bleed. When they get good and lightheaded (and see
others making money they are losing hand over fist with wrong-
headed doomed-to-fail notions like hulu.com), they'll come
back. Then Apple should step back, let NBC save as much face
as possible, and welcome them back like the prodigal son.
Business is business, and NBC does have a valuable commodity
to sell. But never on the kind of terms that rape the customer
and prevent the download video industry from growing as it
should.

CouchGuy

[SeizeCTRL]

WTF???

Are you serious? I mean are you really really serious? You think people would rather watch a TV show on a tiny little iPod / iPhone screen than watch them on a computer monitor? I have two 22" and 1 24" wide screen LCDs, the rest are 19" CRTs and watching Bionic Woman online on a 24" LCD is pretty damn cool. My HDTV has a VGA input on the side and I can go out from my laptop to my TV and watch online from my laptop to my TV and that is pretty freaking sweet as well.

I've bought ONE tv show for my iPod and that was an episode of Lost just to see what it was like. Quality wise, the streams from ABC and NBC are far superior in my opinion than the crappy little movie file I got from iTunes. The compression is horrible and if you watch it full screen in iTunes / QuickTime you will see how heavily compressed it is with all the artifacts and pixelation that never seems to stop.

Now I don't know if iTunes has increased the video quality since then, but if it's anything like the episode of Lost I have, it would pain me to watch it on a TV... unless of course I had a four inch TV laying around someplace.

[ackmondual]

PLEASE USE LINE BREAKS IN YOUR POST! I gave up reading it 9 lines down (NT)

see subject

[gambalem]

Writers guild should join with Google and/or Apple

Have the writers guild join with Google and Apple for a new distribution mechanism. Make it ad-revenue driven and partner with other people needed (non-writing staff). If NBC doesn't wake up and be creative with their business model they will lose fast. Its only a matter of time before more writers make deals with companies like Apple or Google to directly distribute their content outside of the major networks. I agree that its not an overnight transition since most people still want to watch entertainment on their TV.

Prediction is that Tivo partners with ISP's and groups like the writers guild to directly provide entertainment off of the major networks. May not happen for a while but it will happen. Else, Google will use the new spectrum it is planning on bidding on and create this new distribution model.

[acheron5]

It should be NBC that should kiss and make up with Apple

NBC's withdrawal from the iTunes music store is less detrimental to Apple than to NBC. It's not as if there aren't other ways that are free to consumers to get TV shows and other video media onto iPods.

The availability of NBC shows on iTunes is probably not a significant factor for the majority of people who purchase iPods, contrary to what NBC execs may believe. TV shows on iTunes isn't what sells iPods. Additionally, Apple doesn't need NBC as much as NBC needs Apple to make revenue off of getting these shows onto portable devices such as the iPod, the ubiquitous iPod nano, or the iPhone.

Apple does need to get video content on to these devices and has two strategies at its disposal to do so. First, it has the iTunes store which is problematic for studios. Should its agreements with studios falter, as it has with NBC, Apple could simply introduce a DVR enabled Apple TV as a vehicle for getting video content onto iPods and iPhones.

And if Apple does get fed up it can simply close the iTunes video store and leave the TV studios to the pirates.

Only CNet would argue that Apple should cave to NBC and raise prices for content that is otherwise free.

[MissLynda]

I don't get it either!

I don?t get it either. But it is the whole ?I? thingy that I don?t get. What is the world does a device that cost over $300.00 to purchase and then continue to cost you over $30.00 a month to use, really get you that you can?t get from another device with no additional expenses. I will admit that I am an old broad; I actually owned an 8 track player and thought I was cool at one time. This shows you how old I am but I have not packed away my Nike?s yet. I purchased a Pocket PC in 2000. I think this was before the I-Pod explosion; and my Pocket PC can do everything that my sister?s I-pod does and more. I can not only download and view any TV program that I want but I can even record any full length DVD (of course it has to be converted) I want and I am able to view, download, play music, games, programs and for very little or no additional money. I also have the option of switching out my memory cards if I need more storage space. Memory cards are inexpensive and hold up to 2 gigs per card. There are card that hold more memory but they don?t work with my dinosaur unit. The only down side is the battery life, but I just carry an extra battery and flash charge the other one so it really isn?t that big of a deal. Now, I may be missing something and I admit that I am completely I-Pod ignorant because I have just been way to busy enjoying my antique device and all it does for free to spend any serious time investigating a device that I can?t afford anyway. I admit also that my sister?s unit is a bit smaller and lighter but with my old eyes (Where did I but those reading glasses?) I prefer the larger much easier viewing screen on my unit; by the way so does she when it comes to watching videos and TV shows. So guys, please give me the skinny on what I am missing with this device that is causing so much hoopla. Please, Please, Please! I am not knocking this device. I don?t know enough about it to criticize or extol it. I am not selling anything. I am just asking a question and I am looking for some honest, friendly, input?... so please don?t flame me or attack me because you think that I have a hidden agenda. I don?t. I am just an old lady that never had a need for an I-Pod so it passed me by. It has become such a craze and I just don?t get it; and for the price of the unit, the accessories, and the additional services, I won?t either. You can only do so much with a retirement pension and food and gasoline are taking their lion?s share. Of course we old codgers still believe in tucking a dime or two away for a rainy day, and at $1.99 to $10.00 a viewing I think it is time for me to get up in that attic and dig out that old 8 track. I know that the record button works and I can always end my days the way I started, sitting by the radio and just listening to the shows. I can?t see worth two cents anyway and I can?t tell Britney from a Brittany (well maybe, one walks on four legs and the other on two) so play nice and help the old lady cross the street to understanding the benefits of this techno world device.