“NBC Universal has struck a deal with technology and commerce specialist Wurld Media that will make selected movies available for on-demand downloading via peer-to-peer distribution early next year,” Cynthia Littleton and Chris Marlowe report for Hollywood Reporter. “NBC Universal said it marks the first time a major studio has licensed content to a P2P service… The companies have not yet determined the fees that it will charge for film downloads. NBC Universal said it would offer all of the titles that are available on its existing video-on-demand and pay-per-view services carried by cable and satellite operators. That means a range of contemporary releases — including ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’ ‘Cinderella Man,’ ‘Ray’ and ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ — as well as 75-100 older titles from the Universal library. The deal at present does not include any NBC Universal-produced TV series, but it does cover special programs that NBC Universal offers on VOD/PPV.”
Full article here.
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lets just face it. Apple was late to the show. The ‘ipod with video’ is a poor performer in battery life and the resolution is subpar. Of course Apple is just ‘testing the waters’. Apple tests the waters? Last I looked Apple made their own water and sprayed it on whoever they wanted. It is a case of anything but ITMS w/ video and it’s sad. If the distribution is via remote to my television/dvr AND it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg then sure I’ll use that, but if it’s p2p then what sense does that make.
P2P would mean that next to Serenity_PPV_99_cents or whatever would be Serenity_ripped_by_roxxor_4urpmp. Sending people to P2P networks to get media is like selling REAL DVD’s at a flea market. Like people would pay the price and waste the time.
Now…Apple is screwed b/c there is no QUICK way to downsize most files to a legitimate ‘ipod with video’ format (container, codecs, and specs). The dominant format isn’t going to be ‘ipod with video’. It might be ‘Video iPod’ since that would have a larger screen w/ a higher resolution and probably be one of the only devices to have a smart scaling feature so that widescreen material in non-standard resolutions w or w/o letterboxing would display correctly (this ones easy and people still lag).
Why not offer commercials and charge or not charge? Because once the show reaches a certain level of popularity it becomes network/affiliate independent and then there could be ‘pressure’ (thinly veiled posturing) from the ‘actors/writers/screen_dis_n_dat guild’ to give more profits to them.
The fear that record labels have of indie competition via itunes is also present in video, only video w/o commercials available during the current season is more appealing than the alternative (waiting for DVD) so it’s a potentially higher threat than music (which usually doesn’t have a per track advertisement).
So hurry up w/ the video ipod so that the market can shift to meet the demand of the people (ipod owners). It’s just wrong that there aren’t all the pixar movies on ITMS. It’s a bad sign. W/ more and more studios going it their own it’s not looking that great.
I hope ABC commits more to ITMS. At least they are making some profit from it and Apple is selling new iPods. Still, the simple fact is that if Apple was testing the water; the networks were dropping high voltage lines in at each end of the pool and flipping the switch.
late to the show:
I’m glad I read to the end before I posted, cause I think you got it right.
Even though what Apple is presently doing with video is quite polished, and 1-2 years ago would have probably done for them what selling music via iTMS did when they started that, I’ve felt that things were just a little ‘off’ this time around. The music companies bitch now, but they were really at a total loss before iTMS showed up. And their moaning has been all about how their laack of control over the distribution channel, which I think means almost as much to content providers as simple profit does. However, they clearly have been motivated into learning a few lessons in the interim.
I think this P2P scheme by Universal is potentially just as revolutionary in its own way for video as iTMS was for music. In fact, I see situational parallels between the introduction of the two systems. Back at the beginning of the 2000s, file sharing via centralized servers was the ‘big thing’ that iTMS built on and leveraged for success. Now that we’re at the midpoint of the decade, clearly P2P has taken over that ‘big thing’ role, and yet Jobs & Co. seem to be totally unaware of that fact. It’s a technology that can be used for almost any task that works over a network, so imagine a Skype-like iChatAV app that was freed from AOL’s servers, and which Apple could even make a few bucks on as a communications replacement for phones. Keep dreaming though, cause Apple’s not interested. For video, the better speed at which P2P allows downloading (vs centralized server distributions) alleviates probably the number one problem with storing large video files on a centralized server. Yet Apple sees keeping resolutions low and waiting for the day when the US becomes the next S. Korea in broadband as a better bet. That’s being too lackadaisical in my book.
It’s pretty obvious that Jobs’ assesment early on was that the current iTMS technology template, with only slight modification, was more than enough to carry him anywhere he wanted to go, even to the video promised land (when he was finally ready to go there). The only stumbling block – after the hollywood studios got through bursting his bubble on the issue – was locking down the computers. He solved that easily enough with a switch to Intel CPUs and the hardware DRM that will come with them. But I think he was too blinded by iTMS’s success – I think Universal’s P2P scheme, if priced right, will outflank Apple in content provision of video.
It doesn’t mean they’ll be totally swept away (we’re not talking Glaser and Real here after all). Plus, there’s still the massive installed iPod user base that he can leverage (gads … it sounds like I’m talking about M$ doesn’t it?). Nonetheless, this could definitely be the big wave that Jobs missed. Hope he doesn’t have to wait too long to catch another.
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What is amazing is that ALL of these developments were precipitated by Apple’s introduction of the video-capable iPod and videos on the iTMS. Steve Jobs and Apple opened the door, now the race is on to be the best provider.
The P2P solution still has a flaw, however. To watch the downloaded movies on my home theatre set-up, I have to burn the files to a DVD or connect my computer to my other equipment. Where is the “magic box” that makes the latter happen? There is clearly a niche here that needs to be filled.