NBC Universal and SanDisk today announced that current TV shows from NBC, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, and vintage library shows from NBC Universal will be available via Web-based service. SanDisk’s “Fanfare” service enables the download of TV shows and other video content from Windows PCs only — Mac users need not apply — for playback on their TV via the Sansa TakeTV video player. The announcement was made today by Jean-Briac Perrette, President, NBC Universal Digital Distribution and Sanjay Mehrotra, President and Chief Operating Officer, SanDisk.
The Sansa TakeTV device must be purchased to extract content from Fanfare and transfer it to a television for playback.
MacDailyNews Take: TakeTV? Okay, if that’s what you want, NBC. But, there won’t be much “purchasing” going on, boys – certainly not from SanDisk or NBC. Totally unrelated and completely off-topic article: Free TVShows application for Mac OS X automatically downloads your favorite TV shows via BitTorrent – August 31, 2007. The point we are making is that NBC seems to forget or be ignoring that they are not only competing with legal downloads, but with piracy. By making it difficult for users by requiring additional hardware, practicing bundling (read: swindling), and plastering DRM on everything, NBC et al. will continue to be unmercifully trampled by P2P.
Under the terms of the deal, SanDisk plans to collaborate with NBC Universal to implement a series of Digitial Rights Management (DRM) measures on NBC Universal content, including partnering to explore “the implementation of watermarking and filtering technology solutions.” Additionally, NBC Universal and SanDisk will collaborate on new consumer content acquisition models, including flexible pricing and packaging. NBC Universal will provide Fanfare BETA users with “a variety of attractive ways to purchase and view TV shows, including offering discounts for multiple episode purchases and entire seasons, as well as incentives to purchase a bundle of different TV shows at one time.”
MacDailyNews Take: NBC: Must DRM TV. Bundle? Rip-off is more like it.
“Our viewers now have another innovative way to enjoy NBCU’s first-rate broadcast and cable content whenever and wherever they choose with Fanfare and Sansa TakeTV,” said Perrette. “SanDisk is taking a leadership position within the consumer electronics industry with its commitment to protecting content, which marks an important advance for television entertainment in the digital landscape.”
Said Mehrotra. “SanDisk is committed to providing consumers a vast collection of legitimate content, while protecting the rights of content owners with technology solutions such as watermarking.”
MacDailyNews Take: SanDisk, NBC, and DRM: A threesome made in hell.
NBC Universal content will be available on Fanfare (currently in BETA) in January. NBC shows will be available on Fanfare for consumers to purchase and permanently download and view on a TV via SanDisk’s Sansa TakeTV PC-to-TV video player. Shows will include “The Office,” “Heroes,” and “30 Rock.” New episodes will be available on Fanfare the day after they air on the network. Consumers may also purchase NBC Universalcontent from properties such as USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, Telemundo, mun2, NBC Sports, and NBC News, including USA Network’s “Monk,” SCI FI Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica,” Bravo’s “Top Chef,” as well as NBC News and NBC Sports specials.
Sources: SanDisk, NBC Universal
MacDailyNews Take: They couldn’t beat Apple’s iPod+iTunes fair and square after more than half a decade of trying, so now they’re going to try to tilt the playing field: deny content to Apple, supply it to the also-rans — festooned with DRM, of course — while ghettoizing Mac users (who just happen to be the fastest-growing segment of consumer personal computer users and also those with the most disposable income). Think it’ll work?
The only way to effectively compete with piracy is to offer DRM-free (or unobtrusively DRM’ed) content that can be played anywhere for a reasonable price. Then people will buy. It’s a simple solution that most of the world’s content providers have yet to understand.
“while ghettoizing Mac users”
– Um, false. Even Apple advertises the fact that Windows runs on a Mac.
@Teflon
I think Jobs called it right on this one. NBC needs to quit being so greedy and trying to force pricing models that will hurt the legitimate downloads market.
Since Apple has the customers who pay for content and iTunes is #1 for TV downloads market, I think Apple has more bargaining chips than NBC.
It hurts NBC much more than Apple.
Let’s see if I’ve boiled down NBC’s recipe for success;
I need to buy a special Sansa thing.
I already have an iPod, but NBC is betting that I’ll spend money on a device I know nothing about.
I need to have a TV with a USB port.
– Hundreds and hundreds more of my dollars for an experiment.
NBC promises me “flexible” pricing. That’s a pretty way of saying “higher” pricing.
NBC says I might be able to buy cheaper, “bundled” episodes. I guess that will apply to the shows that aren’t selling well enough, and need the perception of a discount. But wait, isn’t that like bundling music in an album and actually trying to force the consumer to buy more tracks than they want, at a higher overall price? Now, how successful did that practice work in the digital download age again?
And I just need a reliable and secure Windows system for this whole house of cards to work.
Well, sign me up then, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?!
Oh, and one more selling point; Anything I buy at NBC’s higher, “flexible” pricing, will be DRMed up the wazoo.
Yep, that clinches it. Sounds too good to be true!
I thought you could watch NBC tv for free at their mobile website. nbcmobile.com?
Okay, gonna try it on my iPhone.
Hmmm…doesn’t work.
Tried nbc.com as well, and you need WMV’s plugin. Oh well.
NBC is trying really h a r d.
now go away – who the heck cares
This just makes me shake my head. I can’t believe that anyone would still try to sell a service that is Windows-only, and requires you to buy new equipment. How many Windows-only services have to fail before these idiots get it through their fat, corporate skulls that you can’t just ignore Mac users. Sure, there are fewer of us, but we’re the early adopters. You need us to hype the product to all our clueless, Windows-using friends!
Amazon understands this! That’s why their MP3 service was Mac and iTunes-compatible from day one!!
——RM
Star the Bit Torrents up!
Oh, release the zealots too!
Steve
Hey MDN, you’re right! I had disposable income at one time.
…it was disposed of…
It’s not that it’s Windows only that will kill this, but W H I C H version of Windows. Will it work with XP? Will it work with Vista? and btw, who the fsck cares?
Steve Jobs was recently quoted as saying “Universal, I fart in your general direction, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time”
Dongles, DRM and Doofuses, oh my!
This info from NBC is so convoluted, cryptic and so lacking in real-world details, it boggles the mind. How does this whole thing work again?
When you can’t communicate clearly, it usually means you can’t think clearly.
@JadisOne
Microsoft’s fingerprints are all over this. MS and NBC were joined at the hip (MSNBC) until recently, but in those early years MS lavished NBC with computers and software and technical expertise. Who could resist!?
The journey from then to now was expensive and yielded very little, not unlike the development of Vista.
Even though MS is officially out of the picture, the people from MS who infiltrated NBC are still whispering into the ears of NBC executives and here we are, more than ten years later and NBC is still searching for solutions!
SanDisk’s web-based service? Never heard of it. NBC’s getting a bit desperate.
Remember, Apple makes its profit from selling hardware. Apple wants to make digital content as convenient and inexpensive as possible, so that it can sell more hardware. NBC makes its profit from selling content. NBC wants consumers to pay as much as possible, and/or add inconveniences like forced commercials and limited-time web-only access with ads. As a consumer of digital content, which way do you think is better…?
As PC Magazine used to say everytime Apple would come out with a new Mac – “Yawn”…
I used to download each episode of heros last year from iTunes. Paying per show was much more enjoyable than being stuck watching advertising, the shows felt more coherent. This year, because NBC has their heads up Universal’s greedy ass, I’m forced to watch the shows when they are aired, it totally sucks. Every 9 minutes they break for 5 minutes of commercials. I just can’t get into the story flow, they’ve totally ruined the experience. I also tried going to NBC.com to watch an epsisode, the first thing they feed you when you hit the play button is a commercial. This is an innovative solution for viewers?
They’ll have to answer to the stockholders sooner or later for their supidity. The sooner they collapse, the better.
“Microsoft’s fingerprints are all over this.”
I’d have to say lick marks and sweat stains. NBC got a squirt they couldn’t refuse?
So are they getting the $4.99 they wanted?