Actually I think ABC has the right idea. You can go to their website after an episode airs and watch the episodes for FREE. The screen size is smaller and not HDTV, but it is more than good enough to see an episode you may have missed. If you want the episodes in HD buy the DVD later. This feature more than anything else has kept me watching ABC shows. There are a few ads, but you're watching on a computer and probably like me multitasking anyhow. I think all of the networks should do it this way, forget downloading from itunes or anyone else too much of a hassle.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-09-21-ala-carte-cable-lawsuit_N.htm

How interesting.

I guess other's are seeing that "bundling" is just another way to inflate prices.

I wonder what impact this would have on video content being sold on the Internet?

If we could break the bundling of cable channels -- would that make selling shows a la carte online more attractive?

"Nobody really knows how it's going to shake out, what the business model will be so they are trying some different approaches.

The author is a technology writer - one of a niche group of people who want to watch shows online, via their TV sets..." - voice of reason

I think you may be giving the Networks too much credit when you say, “Nobody knows how this will shake out.” I think they know exactly how things will play out and that’s why they are trying to stop it.

Again, I can point to AT&T who knows exactly how things will turn out if they allowed Skype to function on the iPhone. The reason AT&T doesn’t allow this feature isn’t because of any technological restrictions or because they honestly don’t think there is any demand for it – I think it fairly obvious to everyone AT&T refuses to allow it because it jeopardizes their business model. Most people don’t like AT&T and don’t want to buy their expensive call plans – and if Skype were an option they wouldn’t. So AT&T simply eliminated Skype as an option and forced people into their plans.

I also think the very concept of how media is viewed has evolved so much that watching video on a computer (or cell phone!) is as commonplace as watching it on a TV.

The argument used to be that people would never want to listen to music on anything except their home stereos with their massive speakers and equalizers. Now one could argue that the majority of people rarely listen to music on home stereos – but listen to it almost exclusively on their iPods, Blackberry’s, or smart phones. I think a large reason the record execs dragged their feet on the whole digital music scene was because they were afraid that if they couldn’t “bundle” music onto CD’s (that they could sell for $29.99) and allowed people to buy songs at only .99 cents that they’d be at a price disadvantage. Ya got an artist with one mediocre song and 12 crappy ones? Bundle onto a CD and make a million dollars selling that one song. Under the new model the music execs took one look at that and said, “Right now we can sell one good song for $29.99 by bundling it onto a CD. If we switch we’ll only be able to sell that one song for a dollar! Let’s stick with the old way of doing things and just claim there’s ‘no demand’ for buying music online!”

Personally I see the same thinking happening with video.

Right now if you want to watch HBO’s “Deadwood” you have to either pay a premium to HBO or you can pay $129.00 to get the season on DVD.

Gosh, why doesn’t HBO sell each episode of “Deadwood” on iTunes for $1.99 each?

Because by limiting your options and forcing you to buy a bundle they can jack up the price!

I think the demand for buying individual content and watching it on your iPod, PDA or computer is huge – and the only thing stopping it from exploding is the fact that Network execs won’t make the same mistakes (as they see it) that the music execs made. Limiting options, bundling content and jacking up prices is a very, very profitable business model. They do not under any circumstances want to give up the advantage they have.

The demand is there – but the giants of video content/distribution don’t want to give up their advantage.

I couldn't agree with you more. All of this betrays the network's real feelings towards developing technology and the democratization of television: Hostility. They're not ready to move into the 21st century and, what's more, they don't want to. If you want proof of what I'm talking about just look at their websites. Flash animation nightmares full of broken links and bad design.

I was interested in watching all four of the pilots NBC was promoting, but couldn't get ahold of any of them through legit channels. Comcast advertised the NBC pilots as available on demand, but I live in Houston, where the On Demand features don't currently include network TV. Next, I looked at Amazon Unbox, but Unbox only supports Windows, and I'm a Mac user. I don't have a Tivo. If you're trying to build interest in your product, you probably want your promotional materials to be as widely available as is possible.

The Fox shows that were mentioned are available for free from Unbox as well. NBC is also offering the pilots for some of its shows on Unbox for free. I have already watched two of NBC's pilots using Unbox and my TiVo, and they both exceeded my expectations. It always hard to sure how things will shakeout after a pilot, but Journeyman seems like a decent show.

Nobody really knows how it's going to shake out, what the business model will be so they are trying some different approaches.

The author is a technology writer - one of a niche group of people who want to watch shows online, via their TV sets. But that's you - some people just want a chance to catch up for free on the episode they missed, others want to own and keep the episodes but don't want to wait for the DVD so they'll buy them on amazon.com, and others prefer to wait for the DVD so they can watch the whole season in a weekend.

But at this point, the TV networks get their money from advertisers. If a show doesn't get a large number of viewers on the air, it's not going to make it through the season, there's no incentive to divert viewers to a direct purchase of the episodes. Maybe one day they'll just be selling shows directly to consumers, and quit broadcasting all together, but it's not clear that that day is coming any time soon.

If your true desire is to see the episodes in high definition, on your Televsion set, why not just tune in when the program airs? If that's inconvenient, I recommend a DVR service like Tivo, it's really best suited to your needs. There are bigger and better DVRs coming on the market all the time.