WP/Reuters: NBC, CBS to offer shows on demand for 99 cents

[DeepModem Mom]

NBC, CBS to offer shows on demand for 99 cents
By Steve Gorman
Reuters
Tuesday, November 8, 2005

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NBC and CBS unveiled separate plans on Monday to make some of their hottest prime-time shows available for viewers to watch at their leisure -- without commercials -- for 99 cents an episode, throwing open the door to "on-demand" television.

The back-to-back announcements from NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., and Viacom Inc.-owned CBS, came weeks after Walt Disney Co.'s ABC began offering commercial-free Internet downloads of its biggest hits, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," for $1.99 a piece.

The two latest deals add CBS and NBC shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" to the mix of programs networks are clamoring to deliver outside conventional broadcasts.

All three ventures highlight growing efforts by the major commercial networks to shake up "old media" models and expand their avenues of distribution.

On-demand viewing -- enabling audiences to order up shows when they feel like watching instead of according to a preset program schedule -- has been commonplace on pay-cable networks for some time....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110701355.html

[jsamuel]

1. it always starts "without commercials"

[global1]

2. I Was Wondering When They Would Start To Charge For "On Demand"....

TV. Right now in the Chicago Area - Comcast offers free 'on demand'. I didn't think the freebie would last very long.

You know - get them used to using a service - then start charging for it when they're hooked.

Opiate of the Masses.

[underpants]

3. I'd pay for Earl or The Office

but then I tape them so...

[SpiralHawk]

4. 57 channels and there's Nothing On (but propaganda)

I think I will invest my 99 cents instead on a half a cup of gasoline so I can get to work.

[catnhatnh]

5. If you remember when cable began....

...it was ALL going to be commercial free...then all premium channels would be commercial free and then some premium would be commercial free....more bait and switch-remember that even $10 movie tickets any longer ensure "commercial free". The funniest part of cable is that now even some of the shopping networks are interupted for commercials.Late Saturday and Sunday nights over half the cable chanels are given over to infomercials....In short it might work for a little while,but even if it does you can expect commercial creep within three years....."Yes for just 99 cents we offer premium low commercial downloads...etc. etc....

[Teaser]

6. Good idea.

Soon I'll be able to get rid of my TV altogether.

[wordpix]

7. "without commercials" the shows will be a few minutes long

[LeftHander]

8. TV - Game over....

Thats it...

Non-on demand television will degrade into mostly commercials. More so than it already is. Television as we know it will become totally pay. It has been going that way all along.

Frankly I am glad, TV has ruined America.

[iconoclastNYC]

9. The price is the most interesting thing.

Why did they go 50% under the ITUNES Video store price? I'd bet it has something to do with undermining Apple nascent monopoly on content distribution.