YouTube To Sell TV Episodes
Dec 3, 2009 by Kofi OutlawGoogle is trying to get YouTube to start selling episodes of TV shows. I know for most of us that notion doesn’t come as a …
Google is trying to get YouTube to start selling episodes of TV shows. I know for most of us that notion doesn’t come as a surprise, as most digital video services – iTunes, Amazon – already have episodes of TV that you can download for a price. Even Hulu is considering offering priced content; it just seems to be way the TV industry is adapting to the Digital Age.
However, what is surprising about the Google/YouTube venture is the approach the are reportedly taking: charging users to stream episodes of their favorite TV shows.
Read that again: charging users to STREAM episodes of their favorite TV shows.
STREAM, not DOWNLOAD. Insanity.
And the price they’re allegedly thinking about setting sounds equally ridiculous: $1.99 per episode.
$1.99. A Whopper Jr. and some ‘nuggets at Burger King. To stream last night’s episode of House. Madness.
I’ve always thought that Google was a really smart company – what they’ve done cleaning up and organizing YouTube since taking over the site has been nothing short of amazing (I love YouTube these days.) At the risk of offending my own massive ego, I’m going to refuse to believe Google would make such a misstep and assume that they’ve done some kind of market research, lab test, or insane experimentation to discern that something like this could actually work.
According to Media Memo (which is breaking this rumor), both TV and YouTube execs HAVE done the research and what they’ve BOTH found is that people already pay $1.99 to download a TV episode and watch it once – so they’ll probably pay the same just to stream an episode once.
Makes a certain bit of sense, I’ll admit, but to somebody like me, I pay $1.99 and I want to be able to do whatever the hell I want with my episode! I purchased a copy of it of that episode – not the right to see it. My episode of Lost is not some cheap peep show!
$1.99 to watch me for an hour…
Anyway, negotiations between GooTube and the TV execs is ongoing. I’m sure we’ll hear something develop soon. In the meantime, enjoy free (legal) internet TV while you can, because it will soon be a thing of the past…
What do you make of all this?
Source: Media Memo
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Thats BS!!!!!!
Whats with corporations these days trying to squeeze money out of us any way possible. This is why some people support piracy.
Yeah, those darned corporations, how dare they try to figure out how to monetize their sites to pay for thousands of servers running 24/7, unimaginable amounts of bandwidth and the people who need to keep it all running.
The nerve!
On the other hand, I’m with Kofi – if you’re going to pay for an episode you should be buying it, not renting it at that price.
Vic
So what price point WOULD be acceptable if it was one-time stream only? .99? .50? Would your opinion change if that episode was available for you to stream as often as you like, for as long as YouTube offers the service? Is the issue that you want to be able to do ANYTHING with your purchase? (Which, currently, there is no legal service that offers that amount of freedom, even iTunes has DRM limitations)
So it will cost $1.99 so watch an episode?
Just download it for free from one of the many torrent sites that offer it. I see tons of ads every time I turn on my t.v, that’s paying enough.
HELL NO!!!!! I will never purchase a TV, or a Music Video ever…..(not counting season dvd sets or bluray of course) seriously? Itunes already sells TV shows and ill be damned if i ever buy 1. I already spend too much on my cable bill a month as is.
Yeah just wait to the hydraulic despotism sets in, then see how much your paying for the shows. What ever a monopolistic market will bear right?!
I woke up today, turned on the INTERNET and it was Closed for comment, output only, scan credit card Now…
With the ever-increasing numbers of product placement in television shows these days, these companies have a bit of nerve asking us to pay a second time.
It’s the industry shooting itself in the foot. Just like the music and film industries.
I don’t watch TV so this does not matter..to me I mean
@ Itchoranimous
I know what you mean about product placement. The show I have noticed it in the most has been Heroes.
They should be calling it “Sprint and the nations first and only 4G network present: HEROES”
Doesn’t bother me in the least. Vic’s right, it’s a costly endeavor to run a web site. (He should know)
Amazon’s doin’ it. I downloaded my fav episode of T:SSC a couple months back for $1.99. They even have them in HD for 2.99.
I think we’ve gotten used to this whole, “It’s the internet, everything should be free!” mindset that we’ve forgotten the sometimes enormous expense that goes into presenting all these services to the public “for free”.
..Sorry, T:TSCC – Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
(Could they come up with a longer title?)
That is absolutely ridiculous. I can see to pay to KEEP an episode forever, to watch whenever you desire, but to pay for STREAMING service? It’s a bit nuts. I’d rather they offer the option to BUY the episode, commercial free, for a $1.99 or whatever OR the option to stream it WITH commercials for FREE. No fast forwarding of the commercials like on the DVR, but the 30-45 second ad plays through in its entirety before the stream resumes. A half hour program would have 3 breaks (or whatever)for commercials. This way, the consumer gets to watch the shows they want, when they want and the network gets money from ad revenue. If you don’t want commercials, fork over the cash and download the episode.
Personally, I really never watch any shows online. I prefer to record them in hi-def on my DVR and watch them when I want on my tv. However, once in a while the DVR goes nuts and I miss an episode. It would be nice to be able to watch it online for free.
Actually, another option would be if Google would allow a membership option a’la Netflix. $10/month to watch as much as you want. I like my first idea better, but a subscription based option isn’t too bad either.
gOoGle is only as powerful is you allow them to be.
Don’t buy streaming from them at all, ever! See how fast that price changes,,,
GoOgLe is more than liky going to track and log your every movie purchase anyway, I don’t use any of their services anymore…
^
Personally I never find myself in a position to be forced to stream entertainment over a laptop or PC. I don’t get the attraction to watching shows online. Its a cheesy novelty unless your in some area without access to a real tv,,,