BBC Gets Into iTV
A month or so ago, I threw out an idea for a business model to download TV shows - prompted by my use of Bit Torrent and affinity for HBO's “Deadwood”. Well, the BBC is getting into the game with a 5,000-customer beta that gives subscribers access to pay-as-you-go downloadable programming. The library will feature 190 hours of TV, 310 radio programs and some feature films. Given how badly the music industry got burned by P2P downloading, I'm surprised it is taking so long for the movie and TV businesses to jump on the i-bandwagon. Unlike music, which many people have no qualms downloading for free because the product is seen as disposable, movies and TV are different creatures - culturally and economically. As the DVD phenomena has demonstrated, consumers are willing to spend lots of money to create movie and TV libraries so they watch them again and again. I think this “habit” can easily be extended to the Internet if the TV and movie industries act quickly with reasonable, consumer-friendly business models. That said, there are already signs (Bit Torrent), consumers are starting to move ahead of the market.
May 18th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
I disagree that music is more “disposable” than movies or TV. People listen to their favourite music hundreds of times while most people don't watch a movie more than once or twice and some TV, such as sports, is almost worthless when it is no longer fresh.
In rankings of disposibility I would put it:
1. TV
2. Movies
3. Music