by Rob Paterson
January 21, 2008 at 8:07 am
· Filed under HBO, PBS, Public Media
HBO will launch a new feature on Tuesday this week - Subscribers will be able to download its shows.
Targeted at younger subscribers and travelers who watch TV shows and movies on laptops, HBO on Broadband will offer 600 titles each month, with 400 of those available at any time, as well as a live stream of the main HBO channel.
HBO on Broadband will also suggest titles based on viewing habits. Programming will be available for at least a month, but will be erased from users’ libraries at its expiration date.
The application can be programmed for up to five users and downloaded to five devices that use Microsoft XP or newer operating systems. An Apple version is in the works.
Each month, an HBO original series such as “Entourage”, “The Sopranos” or “Sex In the City” will be available in its entirety.
Apple now rents and allows downloads. Netflix delivers online as does Amazon.
TV is moving decisively in 2008 to an online delivery.
If I want to see a show again on PBS, I have to order it on DVD by mail and it costs $19.95.
I imagine that a block for public television delivering online is the Station Issue.
I would love to have a PBS/Producer subscription that allowed me access online to content. I would have no problem in indicating in my subscription my “home” local station. So the revenue could flow both to the producer and my home station.
Time for an experiment folks - 2009 may be too late to learn.
There is more to profits than simply offering content online - I will talk more on how making the show a social object can add even more soon.
Update - please see comments below where Jen kindly brought it to my attention that PBS announced a few days ago that it will launch a new arrangement with YouTube
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Jen wrote @ January 21st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I’ve been watching PBS fare online for more than a year, including “classic” Frontline documentaries from the 80s and 90s like “The Farmers Wife.” NOVA’s available online, dozens of titles are available via iTunes, new series like Wired Science are on their website…how-tos, more docs, indie films, etc. When’s the last time you’ve been on the PBS website? Check it out: http://www.pbs.org/video/?campaign=pbshomepage_videoagg_link. And they just announced a new enhanced partnership with YouTube last week — full length docs, segments from NOW, NewsHour, Frontline/World and more.
Jen
They are making progress I agree. But really they are still playing. Most of what is online are bits - Frontline has made the move - but the real crown jewels are not there.
My point is one of commitment - online is the future. A key barrier of a direct channel are the interests of the stations. A way of offering the best of PBS in its full form has to take these interests into account.
There has to be an underlying business model that has a hope of helping both the producer and the station - this is what I am concerned about.
In the end it will not be as simple also as merely making it easy to watch what I want online and having a price that makes sense for the system.
By 2009, all of TV will be available that way. The deeper issue is to add the power of community to the programming. I will say more about this shortly.
Thanks for pushing back - In a short post I have not done justice to the issue and will do better over time
Rob
Here is the PBS YouTube announcement that I missed.
PBS announced this week that it will add video, including previews from its award-winning series and specials, as well as exclusive online features and program excerpts to its YouTube channel.
The broadcaster currently offers more than 700 videos to its 3,000 YouTube channel subscribers and said that consumer demand led to the decision to add more content. PBS said that Bill Moyers Journal featuring interviews with two candidates seeking party nominations for the presidential election (Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich) drew more than 11,000 views since they were posted on the PBS YouTube channel two weeks ago.
The expanded offerings will help broadcasters reach a global audience and it will assist in fulfilling their mission of spreading awareness, unlocking mysteries, and exposing truths, PBS said.
“Our channel on YouTube has enabled us to have a meaningful dialogue with viewers,” John Boland, PBS chief content officer, said in a news announcement. “It’s critical that we engage as many people as possible with our programming. Posting PBS content on YouTube has helped us drive viewers back to watch the entire programs on our local stations’ broadcast, and has helped increase usage of these programs’ companion Web sites on pbs.org.”
This is great news. Now the work is to make access easy and to build community around the content. For having content online is the starting point. The objective is to use both the “Air” and the Web to enhance each other.
Imagine having a Jane Austen community built around the Jane Austen offering on Masterpiece Theatre? Imagine a Dog lovers community built around Nature’s material on Dogs? What would such a community do to add more to the content? What would be the depth of the commitment to the producer and to the station as local mashups took place?
More later.
According to what I read, “Subscribers” are limited to people on Time Warner cable’s broadband service. So, you have to subscribe to HBO AND use crappy TW service. Expect serious backlash over the this approach — particular from people on satellite or other services. As an HBO subscriber, it really hacks me off.
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