With the recent announcement of the immediate cancellation of ABC's Night Stalker, Cynopsis
posed an interesting question: What does this mean for the show as far
as ABC's iTunes video package goes? Many of us have seen shows come and
go, and many times they're ones we didn't want to see simply end before
even one season completed. I last remember it happening with Wonderfalls, though DVD's came to the fans' rescue in that case. But Night Stalker,
though many say it stinks, still has three unaired episodes. If ABC is
dropping it simply to make room for other shows on its network, can't
it just air the remaining episodes in iTunes only? Does it cost them
anything to publish them, even though they already ordered the episodes
to be shot? It sure sounds like a way to make a few extra bucks and
appease fans, even if there are only a few thousand of them.Watercooler Talk: Can iTMS save canceled TV shows?
With the recent announcement of the immediate cancellation of ABC's Night Stalker, Cynopsis
posed an interesting question: What does this mean for the show as far
as ABC's iTunes video package goes? Many of us have seen shows come and
go, and many times they're ones we didn't want to see simply end before
even one season completed. I last remember it happening with Wonderfalls, though DVD's came to the fans' rescue in that case. But Night Stalker,
though many say it stinks, still has three unaired episodes. If ABC is
dropping it simply to make room for other shows on its network, can't
it just air the remaining episodes in iTunes only? Does it cost them
anything to publish them, even though they already ordered the episodes
to be shot? It sure sounds like a way to make a few extra bucks and
appease fans, even if there are only a few thousand of them.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-15-2005 @ 10:49AM
tully said...
Good question. Perhaps stuff like this needs to be addressed for future shows with production companies? I'm sure there's something currently for DVD releases of canceled shows, so I can't see it being all that difficult for a similar arrangement for other digital mediums. "Download Rights"?
You get the feeling we may see a lot of network switching for shows in the future as downloads for shows become a new marker for relative success?
Reply
11-15-2005 @ 12:58PM
Joe W. said...
I'd like to see an article about iTMS and the new Warner Bros. deal from TV Squad. To me, the iTMS TV show announcement was an even bigger deal than what was hyped, since, if they can get any kind of reasonable catalog, it becomes the real TV on demand that's been talked about since the late 80s.
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11-15-2005 @ 6:51PM
The Jeremy said...
I have a feeling leaked copies of the unaired episodes will hit the Torrents before they ever appear on iTMS. I think ABC will be of the opinion to restrict the episodes from iTMS in order to prevent the company from being embarassed if they actually sold well and cast light on the network making a bonehead decision in cancelling the series.
Reply
11-15-2005 @ 9:30PM
Bruce Wayne-Johnson said...
Also I want to chime in that international sales may let us see those last 3 episodes (thanks for letting me know there are 3 extra eps.)
One of my favorite killed-to-soon shows was the Tim Daly P.I. show EYES...I think it ran for 5 or 6 epsiodes but I think a full 13 were shot. And thanks to the sale of the show to New Zealand who aired all of the 11 or 13 episodes - I have seen the whole series throught BT.
But yeah I'd like to see shows on Itunes as well - I guess the donwload numbers on Itumes for Night Stalker weren't that good either?
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