There's an interesting little blurb over at Digital Spy about NBC's TV Box. The network is currently working out distribution deals in up to ten European and Asian countries, building their global video-on-demand service. They don't detail exactly which shows will be a part of the package, other than a mention of both current and past series being involved.
That's all fine and dandy, but the interesting bit comes from something NBC's Belinda Menendez says. Apparently, the big shows, like Heroes, may be available before they are broadcast for an extra price. And that leads us to the question in the post title.
For the sake of argument, let's assume this all works out for the peacock bunch in Europe and Asia and they make it a global policy. Would the prospect of getting Thursday's episode of The Office on Monday be enough to let those sticky Donaghy fingers into your wallet?
I have to say, I kind of like the idea. It's not something that I would use a lot, but the option would certainly be nice. On those days when you fire up the programming guide and realize that you've either seen it all, or have no interest in seeing any of it, it would be great to jump ahead in the week. Of course, much of that usefulness is dependent on pricing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-19-2008 @ 12:11PM
David said...
Why? All that means is that you wind up watching the episodes every monday. If you do it once only, that means (in the example of The Office) you have to wait from Monday to next Thursday to watch a new episode. That's 10 days instead of 7. Either that, or you'll wind up stuck paying every week to watch the episodes (separated by a week, still) a few days earlier. It's still a week between episodes whichever way you slice it and if to pay to change that week from a Thursday to a Monday, you're just an idiot.
The only way I might do it was if you could buy a whole season early. Put season 5 out on DVD the day it starts to air on television (for a premium, perhaps). Or if the show I could watch early was Lost. But then I don't think I could take a 10 day wait.
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4-19-2008 @ 12:16PM
kopolee11 said...
What if it was for the finale of Lost? Then the wait honestly wouldn't matter.
4-19-2008 @ 12:38PM
Bill said...
I generally wouldn't pay, since I'm already paying for cable. But if enough channels offered enough of their original programming online (networks are already pretty good about this, but most cable channels are not), I might ditch cable. Then I'd have some free cash I might blow on early viewing.
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4-19-2008 @ 12:55PM
ed said...
I would pay, say $1 or $2, to watch m favourite US shows (The Office, 30 Rock, King of the Hill) from the UK, on the same day as their US broadcast. We're not different territories anymore - we're a global community. if I want to chat on imdb or TVSquad about my favourite shows, I want to do it at the same time as my US friends, not sit around and wait 10 months.
The friendly, community-led invite-torrent sites, absolutely put these million pound corporations to shame. Until there's a legal avenue, I have no qualms using torrents. But you could 'legalise' me by offering the shows around the world.
Slitly off-topic, but relevant, I feel.
(PS I agree with the other commentator - why pay early for the same weekly gap? This isn't what they should be concentrating on)
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4-19-2008 @ 1:12PM
Simon Wakefield said...
I'm sure here in the Uk and various other parts of the world people would be willing to pay to get the shows early, the reason being that I assume NBC's plan is to have them available at around the same time as the US showings thus removing the months or even years wait for them to be broadcast.
Paying however to get them a few days early as you have suggested though would be a waste of money
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4-19-2008 @ 1:25PM
darryl said...
I actually kind of do already, buy watching the east coast feeds instead of the west coast feeds. Currently free with my HD subscription, but people without HD have to pay extra for the east coast feeds in SD.
Only three hours early, but it saves me from saying up late.
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4-19-2008 @ 1:59PM
Will said...
Probably not.
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4-19-2008 @ 2:05PM
Oreo said...
No.
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4-19-2008 @ 2:23PM
Franklin said...
No way.
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4-19-2008 @ 4:11PM
Lenny said...
Not a chance. It's an even bigger "no" since it's NBC.
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4-19-2008 @ 6:48PM
zkam said...
I don't get it... Why does it matter? I certainly would not pay extra to watch the same crap a bit earlier.
As it is, I rarely watch any shows live. More often than not, I'm watching DVR-ed shows days or even weeks later. In fact, with Heroes, I fell so many weeks behind that I just gave up on the show, and deleted the episodes that I had saved up. No big loss (and no, I don't watch Lost either).
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4-19-2008 @ 7:30PM
Victor said...
Ultimately it depends on the show. I'd pay a dollar to watch some episodes of Lost a few days early, maybe. I think the days of event viewing are over. Season finales and premieres are the only things I think would make any sense, and even then only for shows that are heavily story-based, like Lost or Battlestar Galactica.
One thing I really WOULD pay for is to see some episodes of my favorite TV shows on a movie screen. I think it would be a lot of fun to see Lost with a theater full of other Battlestar Galactica fans on a massive screen and with booming sound.
Since the last Star Wars movie, going to a theater isn't the major communal experience it used to be. No one is so into a movie that they'll stand in line and be willing to talk to total strangers about it. But with the big TV shows, I think that communal experience would be perfect.
Of course, you'd have to be able to watch a whole evenings worth of premieres or finales to make it worthwhile, but I think it could happen.
I'd pay for that experience.
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4-19-2008 @ 8:09PM
Decalisse said...
If it comes out early for premium users, it also means it's gonna get ripped and put on the internet newsgroups/torrents available as free download earlier.
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4-20-2008 @ 2:03AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
I'd rather just pay for the shows I want and do away with cable all-around.
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4-20-2008 @ 8:56AM
Michael said...
This just goes to show how badly the networks are floundering around and grasping at straws in an attempt to get viewers. So let me get this straight, they are charging their BEST customers to view content online which is going to further erode their broadcast neilsen ratings on their weekly broadcasts. That in turn drops their ratings and their share which in turn leads to EVEN EARLIER CANCELLATION OF A GOOD SERIES. Oh yeah NBC, that really sounds like a great idea.
No thanks, I am already paying a premium to watch your shows (after cancellation). Its called "buying them on DVD" and fuming because there is only one season to watch.
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