Finally, Someone Gets IT! ABC to offer LOST on the internet.

[TriniXaeno]

This is absolutely brilliant news. I hope this succeeds and all the major media producers begin to follow suit.


LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The ABC television network's decision to sell its content online, while angering affiliates, was aimed at preventing piracy from eroding the broadcasting business, a senior network executive said on Tuesday.
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ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co., sells some of its shows on iTunes and will soon experiment with offering popular shows such as "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" free on the Internet, supported by advertising.

Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney admitted the iTunes move "did not endear us" to local station affiliates but said thousands of illegal copies of hit shows were being downloaded hours after broadcast in a rapidly growing trend.

"It's actually becoming common for programming in the U.S. to be captured real time from the East Coast broadcast and put online for anyone in the world to see before the same show airs on the West Coast," she said at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual convention in Las Vegas.

Read the rest here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060425/wr_nm/media_disney_abc_dc

[Spazosaurus]

Hmmmm that is great for them, but makes not one iota of difference to me. People will still get the ad-less HDTV and HR rips. This is nothing more than software's equivalent to shareware, where one can use a program without time limit, but must be bombarded by advertisement.

[Crixx_Creww]

no yu being small minded daak

this is very excellent news.
I was wondering who was going to offer there shows online first, and how they would make revenue off of it.

i was afraid that they would offer it and then charge people to download, what is free on tv.
Advertisement in the download is share brilliance.

Because when big companies start doing it, they will have lots of money to throw behind it and make it work well from the get go!

Lots of bw at their disposal so good dw rate.
When other people see the success of abc they will follow suit

and end result, us techies who never home at certain times to catch shows, can now get all the tv goodness FREE AND LEGAL!!! at any time we want!!

OMFG!!!

[Spazosaurus]

Crix, I think u both misunderstood me and missed my whole point. Yes, no doubt it is excellent idea to make revenue off their shows. ....BUT.... It makes no difference to ME and a lot of people like me because there's the ad-less HR and HDTV versions of the show available. It comes down to choice. If you have a choice to either download the ad filled and the ad less version which would you choose?

[Crixx_Creww]

id download the ad version
then edit it to an adless one if i felt like it

cause why?
cause it would be free and legal to do so since i got it legally!!

or better yet
the guys who usually do it for us, can now download de legal copies and edit it for us.
*sigh* as i said, short sighted (or meant to say)

IT really helps us out

[Spazosaurus]

Hmmmm download the ad version u must be masochistic. Adless version for me please. Legal/illegal.

[TriniXaeno]

like Crixx says, there is a bigger picture here.

Everyone would want an "adless" version, no doubt....but the fact that you can get access to an episode of your favourite show, legally and for free, any time of the day, online...is incredibly CONVENIENT.

This is a paradigm shift.

The average consumer will not go through the hassle of wading into the underworld to get a "pirated" ad-less copy. They make up the VAST majority.

That gives the recording industry their critical mass and a business model. Remember, if these things don't make money the entire industry will dry up. So be thankful there are the masses out there willing to tolerate ads as a price for free entertainment. This keeps the very shows we love on the air.

Even if they were to charge, say $2 for an ad-free episode, people would pay (myself included) because that is a fair price for a quality piece of entertainment that you can readily access and keep on your hd/dvd/cd/ipod. Heck, I'd even pay for the ad version provided I could use a clever Media Player that could auto skip ads. TIVO style.

Apple and Itunes has proven this is a workable concept.

The way of the future for digital entertainment!

Forget traditional DVD / CD / VHS / TV.

Generation Digital will take their content from the net. (As we mostly do illegally now)

I for one, will be glad when I don't have to rummage through the internet's seedy underground looking for episode X. The manhunt for hacked stuff on the net was fun in and of itself years ago but now I'd rather spend that time being entertained by the media.

[Spazosaurus]

That gives the recording industry their critical mass and a business model. Remember, if these things don't make money the entire industry will dry up. So be thankful there are the masses out there willing to tolerate ads as a price for free entertainment. This keeps the very shows we love on the air.

Yeah it makes sense when viewed from this perspective in truth.