“NBC’s animus toward iTunes is well-documented. But the corporate rivalry between Apple and NBC U doesn’t extend to the iPhone, apparently,” Michael Learmonth reports for SIlicon Alley Insider.
“NBC is streaming full episodes of ‘The Office’ and ’30 Rock’ to the iPhone [and iPod touch] in unprotected Quicktime format. Without advertising. Go figure,” Learmonth reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone and iPod touch users, the direct link to NBC’s free content is: http://m.nbc.com/iphone/fullepisodes.shtml. Tested on iPhone and iPod touch. The video quality offered by NBC is, to put it kindly, putrid.
They are brain dead!!
They wanted scalable pricing and they got it, scaled right down to free. Not even ad money.
wow, that video quality is shit. And the sound is way out of sync.
Better luck next time LOSERS
Yes, the video quality is certainly lacking. The audio lags as well. “The Office” is about the only broadcast show we watch with any regularity, and this is a piss-poor representation of showcased content. Could NBC shoot it self in the foot any better?
(Excuse me while I cut off my nose to spite my face.)
bizarre.
It looks so horrid because it’s old-fashioned 3GP (pre-iPhone mobile video) format… audio sync is atrocious as well. NBC is just *so* technologically savvy!
NBC, I’m utterly speechless.
-H
Just testing the next BIG platform ?
Or maybe, by showing so poor videoquality, they will try to make the iPhone/touch seem like a poor product on video ? (that\s just paranoia I guess) .
But let\s face it, NBC really are suckers. It\s a pity cuz the only show I watch is The Office. So it\s off to mininova.org. = )
They aren’t “ad-free”. Please update the headline. I just watched part 4 of the last episode, and it led off with a cheesy Toyota commercial.
Retarded, or worse.
Putrid, kind of like what the Office has become?
Only on MDN can NBC offering free, un-DRM’ed, top tier programming be considered negative (no matter how crappy the quality).
Hey, remember when The Office was funny?
You won’t from these clips.
@ ChrisM,
Surely you jest?
Crap quality, and this is CRAP to the point that it’s unwatchable, is MOST DESERVEDLY derided.
Perhaps I should say “Only on MDN can there be posts defending crap”?
I mean, dude? The frigging audio is out of synch!
Go Moo!
Okay, so it’s rough quality, but what the heck! Better than nothing. Thanks NBC! Good first start.
We should all be boycotting this blatant attempt to work around Apple iTunes.
NBC is hoping to show advertisers that they can still get iTune/iPod viewers thru the backdoor.
Think about this, if we they get major viewers directly without Apple/iTunes they will say: See we don’t need Apple as the provider. We can work without Apple and still get their viewers.
In fact, this is a sign that they realize they need Apple but are trying to still undermine it.
My important 2 cents – BOYCOTT any NBC-Direct videos!!
Meh.
Call me when they stream Battlestar Galactica.
‘We should all be boycotting this blatant attempt to work around Apple iTunes.’
Or sabotage it. Reviews with out of sync audio and the like. Que lástima. What is the world coming to?
Boy, I think I disagree with a lot of you. Although I think they should have worked the quality issues out of this before actually opening up, what a giant step forward for NBC. I mean, I thought the itunes store was not to make money off of the products themselves but to sell ipods. If the video and audio quality can get up to standards, I welcome this mode of tv consumption. And it will sell ipods/iphones.
Just my first reaction thoughts.
Calling Montex:
http://www.hulu.com/battlestar-galactica
I’ll just record The Office each week with my EyeTV at and export it to my iPhone at full broadcast quality if I want to see it. I don’t need some garbage quality stream from NBC, even if it is free.
JC…
Does it realy need to be full broadcast quality for viewing on a small screen (unless you plug into a tv for viewing) Just asking ’cause I’ve been playing around with downloaded 700(ish)meg avi’s and realised they don’t need to be 700megs if your only gonna view them on the small screen anyway. Just means you can fit more on the phone/pod.
“I thought the itunes store was not to make money off of the products themselves but to sell ipods.”
The problem is the title is misleading, this service is available to any crap smart phone out there. If people are playing the same video on their free smart phone they got on a contract what motivation are people going to have to buy an iPhone?
Wow! That is putrid. I’d rather pay $2 per episode and be able to see people’s faces.