More than 200 Fox affiliates will soon offer visitors to their websites the option to stream or download selected Fox television programs.
Last August, Fox began to stream programs from the websites of stations owned and operated by the network, but this is the first time local stations will be given the opportunity to provide content from any network. The stations will split the revenue generated with the network, and will be allowed to place local advertisements in the web streams.
In addition to streaming TV episodes for free, affiliate stations will begin selling downloaded episodes of programs including 24, Prison Break, and Bones, probably for $1.99 per episode and $30 to $40 for a full season.The new web players should start showing up on affiliate web sites this month.
On the one hand, I think it's great that users will have more opportunities to catch the shows they want to see. But to be honest, I don't see a huge benefit for the consumer here.
Personally, I'd rather be able to go to one website for all the networks to watch a streaming episode of a TV show I may have missed. It's bad enough that I have to figure out what network a show airs on before I can figure out how to find it. Being able to access the content on affiliate web sites just fragments things further.
On the other hand, this is great news for local stations who are always looking for reasons to drive traffic to their websites rather than just to the network home page. And more revenue for local stations theoretically means higher quality local programming, although that's not always the case.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-01-2007 @ 2:06PM
David said...
Who will pay $30-$40 to download a show when you can get a DVD set for even cheaper than that.
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3-01-2007 @ 2:49PM
Nick said...
Is it really that hard to remember what show a network is on?
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3-01-2007 @ 2:51PM
Gordy said...
"Personally, I'd rather be able to go to one website for all the networks..."
Your wish is my command: www.itunes.com
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3-01-2007 @ 3:20PM
Brad Linder said...
Nick, it's not that hard to remember what network one show is on, but if you tend to watch all of your programs on a PVR or even digital cable or satellite you get used to browsing by title rather than channel. If there's 10 or more shows that you try to catch every week, having to remember which show is on which network and then go to each separate site can be a bit of a hassle.
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3-01-2007 @ 3:31PM
Eric J. said...
How about turning Fan sites into show affiliates, and letting fans post links to paid show downloads, for which they get a cut, like Amazon Affiliate links? In return, the network would allow the site reasonable fair-use terms for pictures, logos, sound clips, etc.
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3-01-2007 @ 4:02PM
MySchizoBuddy said...
@dAvid
$30-$40 is for subscribing to the whole season. So u will pay that upfront, and get to download the shows as they become available. You cannot do that with DVD's with DVD's u have to wait for the whole season to end and then u can buy the DVD
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3-01-2007 @ 6:01PM
Andrew Liptak said...
Will they actually put up House, MD? Of all the shows that I usually miss, that seems to be the only one that they don't stream or have on iTunes.
http://JediTrilobite.blogspot.com
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3-01-2007 @ 6:52PM
erroneous_nick said...
Still too expensive for shows that are basically broadcast for free.
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3-02-2007 @ 2:05PM
Bash said...
Let me get this straight: 30-40 US$ WITH advertising?
yougoddabekiddinme
0,05 US$ with advertising, 0,25$ without advertising. That's my absolute maximum.
Who would be so dumb to buy an episode if you get it for free on TV? I'd rather buy a TIVO or PVR for that money and skip through the advertising. 80GB PVRs are in the 150 USD pricerange now. That would be 5 seasons worth of shows there.
They are setting up a marked for people who miss shows and desperately need to watch it.
Honestly, if I sum up all the shows I am currently watching (Smallville, House, ER, Heroes, Gilmore Girls, Law and Order, CI, SVU, CSI, Miami, NY, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Ev. Hates Chris, Friday Night Lights, Lost, The Game) and that's just 2 hours worth of TV every night - that's easily 800 US$ a season and NOBODOY can assure me that I'll be able to watch the stuff I bought in the distant future.
No. No way. Too expensive. Much too expensive.
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