TVSquad

This is ridiculous to me. I have Tivo. The box is connected to a network adapter. I program everything I want into that Tivo (It's the one in the bedroom so it barely gets watched). Then I turn on Tivo - to -go on my Mac. I suck down the shows I want when I go out. When I get back I toast it (on the mac tivo to go is only available on Roxio's toast but totally worth it!) and set up a queue to convert for ipod. I could burn dvds or just keep it on my desktop but, whatever. This sounds really time consuming, but I'm not doing any of the work. Except for when I click a button to choose what I want to transfer and click another to choose to convert it. My time spent? 5 minutes. My computer's time working? Hours, maybe.
But, then I have the shows on my ipod and I don't pa a cent.
That's what advertising is for. None of these shows are worth paying for. The whole point of owning something is rewatchability. Almost nothing save for sitcoms are rewatchable. Certainly not worth paying for to own a digital copy of.

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I just got a new iPod nano 2 days ago, my first with video capability. The screen is actually good enough to consider watching something on it. So I went to the iTunes store to check the full scope of their TV show releases. At $1.99, I wasn't planning to buy a whole series, but maybe there was something...Instead, I found three kinds of shows:

1. The ones I had already seen and liked, but either didn't particularly want to see again, or wanted to see on my TV with DVD extras.

2. The ones I'd never tried, but looked interesting, like "Dexter" or "Weeds" or a few others. But again, I'd much rather watch those on a decent TV screen (mine's a 36-inch CRT, no modern flatscreen) with no distractions so I can really appreciate the story, cinematography, etc.

3. The other 85% -- crappy reality shows (redundant adjetive there), kid shows, etc.

I guess maybe comedies are better suited to iPod viewing, since they don't require the full visual attention or ability to see details. I might end up ripping a few discs from my "Cheers", "Newsradio", or "Simpsons" DVDs to watch on the iPod screen (not "Arrested Development", though, since facial expressions are way too important on that show, and would be around the size of a pea on the iPod screen).

So even at 99 cents, I'm not exactly sure what I'd buy to watch on an iPod. If I bought the $50 cable (OUTRAGEOUS PRICE!) and had an easy way to pull stuff off my TiVo onto it (no home network), it might be a very convenient way to bring shows with me when I travel to watch on hotel TVs.

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I watch most of my television through TiVo, so iTunes rarely enters into it. If I miss an episode, or if I decide to catch up on a show and for some reason can't wait for the DVD to come out, $2 seems like a fair price. I wouldn't pay much more, because as others have stated, that works out to about the price you pay per-episode on DVD, which is higher quality. If it dropped to $1, I doubt I'd watch more TV shows via iTunes because I prefer my television on TV, where it belongs. It's bigger, the sound is better, and it's "free" (although TiVo and satellite fees have costs, I could theoretically watch my shows free with an antenna -- as TiVo2goBoy says, that's the point of advertising).

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I bought the first episode of The Shield, season 6, from iTunes because I didn't want to wait months and months for the DVDs. But the $1.99/ep pricing is making me hesitate on buying the rest of the season. If the eps were priced at 99 cents each, I wouldn't think twice.

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I absolutely think 99 cents is fair price. When you everything up on iTunes, you can buy a whole season for generally around the same price as a DVD set. When you consider the fact that you there's no physical media (package art, discs) and no special features, all of which you'd get with a DVD, it just isn't fair.

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Personally, I don't like to watch TV on my computer or Ipod, so I wouldn't pay anything. I have a DVR from my local cable company, so I timeshift TV all the time. I don't think i've watched a live prime-time show in about 2 years now.

The only TV shows that I would ever pay for are DVD releases, and they're classic shows (Taxi, Dragnet, etc).

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I'd probably buy episodes at 99 cents...if they were available in Canada, where we get the shows but can't legally get digital versions.

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since downloading torrents is illegal i clearly never do it, but IF i did, the quality of itunes/unbox/whatever would have to be atleast as good and the price would have to be well below a dollar. IF i downloaded torrents, it would only (theoretically) take me 10-20 seconds to search and then start downloading torrent. IF i actually started downloading, i could have an entire 720p episode of a just aired show in less than an hour. The real selling point would be rare shows and shows that have been off the air for a while.

Again, torrents are illegal but to convert those people you'd have to provide some added value considering the minimal chance of getting caught.

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I'm fine with iTunes current price of 1.99 per episode. To me it's not too much for the convenience of watching an episode I forgot to set my PVR for and having it commercial free.

I have also downloaded shows I never watched before. In July I bought 2 seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I probably would have never watched this show if It wasn't available there.

Of course I wouldn't be against a price drop ;) but anything more than 2 bucks for a television episode is too steep for me.

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If they were to drop the price to .99 that would cut the season pass in half (obviously). For that price I'd go out and buy and appleTV today!

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No more than a half-dollar for an hour and the quality better be good enough for my giant TV because I have absolutely no desire to watch my favorite shows on what amounts to an electronic postage stamp.

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I would definitely buy more TV at $1, because that is like $20-25 a season, which is usually cheaper than a DVD. I am cheap, and if the price is very close to the physical media price (CD or DVD), i usually buy the physical media and import it in. Now if I can get it for 50% less, then I would be more inclined to buy digital.

Same principal for the movies goes for the movies. Why pay $12 for a DRM riddled file when I can generally grab it for $15-16? I generally only buy from the iTunes store when I only want one song from an album. If I want the entire CD (or most of at least), I try to find the CD on sale. I just bought a CD for $9.99 from Target, imported it into iTunes, and loaded those songs on my iPhone. Guess how much the CD was in iTunes....yup $9.99, so for me I would rather have the store bought, DRM-free physical backup. Now if that same CD was $5, I would have bought it in iTunes.

Going back towards the topic of TV prices.....

On the note of me being cheap, I hate the fact that a 11 minute episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and a 55 minute episode of Dexter is the same price. That just bugs me enough to not buy ATHF, but I did buy Dexter (which is a great show btw). OH and why the heck does Weeds have ads for Showtime! I don't mind the little Showtime ...logo on Dexter, but the ad for Showtime at the beginning of EVERY episode of Weeds is quite annoying and it is now the same price as the DVD.

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For me, I just don't get the whole "watching tv shows on your ipod" thing. I don't ever see myself watching a season of Law & Order: SVU on that tiny little screen. That being said... $.99 is a pretty sweet deal (ha). NBC has lost its collective mind leaving itunes.

Tony

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If I'm going to buy TV episodes, I want to rent them not own them. I pay about $1.50 per disc to rent through Netflix. So assuming 4 episodes per disc, that comes to $.38 per episode. That's about what I'd pay to download them. I wouldn't pay a premium to download. In fact, it should be less $ because there is no mailing cost.

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Honestly, unless a show is off the air and no longer available via repeats, etc., I'm not going to buy TV shows unless they are HBO, Showtime, etc., programs that I really do have to pay for. In this day of DVRs, I just don't get the rationale to buy them. Just my opinion.

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I don't understand why anyone would pay for this stuff when a good DVR is infinitely more capable and will pay for itself in the long run. If you closely follow 4 shows for a season at 99 cents each, that's about $100 -- which is more than you would pay for a good ATSC tuner card for an old computer you have sitting around.

With MythTV, there's no DRM to worry about, you watch what you want on whatever device you want and when you want. It'll strip commercials out for you automagically if you like, or you can skip them manually.

The only stuff I could see myself paying for are those shows on pay networks that I don't subscribe to, which is the one scenario where a DVR isn't going to help you. Mary Louise Parker might tempt me to check out "Weeds," but at $1.99 I expect the option for at least a 720p download.

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At $1.99 I've bought a few shows here and there. Times when my DVR didn't record something, or two much for me to tape/DVR/Watch in one night are when I've purchased shows from iTunes. Mostly cause yeah $1.99 is expensive , if you get a whole season, when you get no extras like on DVD. Also for the most part I don't want to sit at my computer and watch something on a 17inch screen -- and yes I have an iPod but not watching anything but a music video here and there. I actually can't believe people enjoy watchin' movies and shows on an iPod, when everyone always wants big50/60 inch TVs. And yes I could spend $300/400 on appleTV but don't feel like forkin' that much out at this time. But maybe if I did have one I might be more inclined to spend $1.99 a show --- but at this time it isn't happing

But $4.99 an episode is obscene. I see that hurting NBC.

but hey why apple is at it lower the music video cost $1.99 for 3- 5 mins. I've gotten a few but always hate myself afterward .

Okay just my thoughts
thanks

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To the people who don't understand why people buy digital copies of programs: clearly, there's a big market for DVD sets. The question is, what are downloads of somewhat lower quality, without many extras, but often available almost immediately or at least much sooner than DVD sets, worth?

To the people who think DVRs obviate the need for a digital download market: maybe, but most people aren't downloading an entire season of current shows (classic series is a different matter), they're buying an episode here or there that they missed and really want to see. I've bought a couple that my (non-TiVo) DVR missed recording because of power outages, etc. The number of shows I buy a month doesn't approach the monthly "service" fee TiVo charges. Plus, what are you going to do in a few years when the broadcast flag only allows you to record and view within a short window, if that? It may not come to pass, but don't bet that the producers won't continue to press to narrow your recording options.

To the people who don't understand why people would watch video on an iPod: we usually don't. iPods have video out for TV playback, as does almost every Mac in the last decade, as well as many PCs. Or you can watch on your computer screen, which may actually be apparently larger than your TV, depending on how far you sit from each.

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Bottom line, at $1.99 you are competing with DVDs. This is great and all, but at $.99 you get to the point where you are competing with the cable companies. At $.99 I would cancel my cable subscription altogether and watch everything through Apple TV. $1.99 to me is the price point where if my Tivo misses something or there's a conflict or whatever, that I can justify buying an episode here and there. What I would really like to see, is $.99 SD shows and $1.99 HD shows. That would REALLY get me excited....

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As others have said, I think the $1.99 is a tad high only because the price equals physical DVD copies which (a) contain extras and (b) are available at a much higher resolution. I’d think somewhere in the $1.25 to $1.50 range would be best.

The reality is, digital downloads are more of a marketing tool than they are an alternative form of distribution. I wouldn’t regularly watch a show on iTunes but it has gotten me hooked on shows that I now watch. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t watch the Closer if I hadn’t found it on iTunes and decided to give it a try.

That is the beauty of iTunes. It allows me to pick an episode up on my schedule and watch it right away which is something I wouldn’t do if I had to wait until the next time it was on or pick up a whole DVD set. Given that fact, I think a lower price actually benefits the networks in that it makes a person more likely to make the leap and try out new shows.

Plus, it should be said that a person who tries a show out, likes it, and then goes out and buys the DVD set is actually giving the studios extra money. It isn’t as if people get discounts on DVD sets for the digital copies they own so any money spent on those copies is pure gravy to the studios.

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