Filed under: iTS, Multimedia, Video
Download Survivor, but not via iTunes
File this
under "What are they thinking?" CBS
has announced that it will offer downloads of its mega-popular reality show Survivor: Panama* at
$1.99 a pop. But here's the catch: The episodes will "expire" 24 hours after purchase, will not be iPod
compatible and will not be sold via iTunes (CBS.com will distribute them). CBS's president of digital media Larry
Kramer told Ruters, "We want to go gradually. We've never done this before." I honestly do understand Mr. Kramer's hesitation. It's a new marketing venture and they don't want to get burned. But we know that the networks get the majority of the cut from iTunes sales. Plus, why would I pay for something that's going to "break" in a day? That's like saying, "After you listen to this CD once, I'm coming to your house and taking it away from you."
*Does anyone else think the theme should be changed to Panama by Van Halen for this season?
[Via MacDailyNews]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mars said 10:19PM on 2-01-2006
Thats ridiculous, if I pay for something I want to be able to watch it whenever I want, otherwise I'll just watch it on TV.
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icerabbit said 10:21PM on 2-01-2006
I agree. One day content expiration? I don't think so.
The only time-limited media I would support, would be like a 5 day digital DVD-rental or a certain "Pay-Per-View" movie while it is in theatres.
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Scott Worthington said 10:33PM on 2-01-2006
Yay CBS - way to bring in a younger audience (rolls eyes)
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ChrisM70 said 10:44PM on 2-01-2006
CBS is stupid. Just like Fox.
The big networks will be dead in 10 years.
The future is online.
News & Entertainment on demand.
Rocketboom. TWIT, Photoshop TV, and
television shows via iTunes.
Why do I need my TV?
Long live podcasts/Vodcasts!
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BJ Gilbert said 10:59PM on 2-01-2006
That is absolutly rediculous. It's people like them that drive America's youth (and more) toward piracy. I don't understand their objective... why sell online at all? Essentially, they are selling to that GIGANTIC audience of people who don't have a tv but own a computer with capabilities to play large videos. Nice move. Beautifully orchestraded plan, CBS.
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alex said 11:03PM on 2-01-2006
It breaks in a day? That's ridiculous. I hope this fails.
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adam said 11:18PM on 2-01-2006
i hope not a single person is duped into buying one of these episodes because this has to be the dumbest DRM idea EVER. if they are dumb enough to buy it, i hope they never get it to work in the first place. they should have chosen the iTMS for survivor because of the DRM that apple has, i think that most people agree that apple gives fairly decent rights but the big one that i'd like is to be able to put it on an iPod video, even though i only have a nano :)
just my 2 cents
ps @ cbs: YOU ARE STUPID! WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA SHOULD BE FIRED AND NEVER ALLOWED TO WORK AGAIN!!!!!!
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coal said 1:45AM on 2-02-2006
OMG - The worst part is that after they do fail, they will come crawling back to Itunes and hopefully have to be a STUPIDITY FEE.
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Reid Ellis said 1:50AM on 2-02-2006
Sure, you say now you won't buy it. But just wait until it's revealed that their super encryption is actually rot13 or something equally banal layered over a pure mp4 file that is 1080 HD resolution - people would line up for that goodness.
Ya, okay, I'm dreaming.
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Uncle Ward said 5:38AM on 2-02-2006
Leave it to CBS to come up with a sure-fire formula to piss off the world. Still got a little of that Dan Rather gene hanging around. Here's an idea: let CBS expire in 24 hours. Or, better yet, feed CBS and Sony to the sharks and film that for Survivor.
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C said 8:14AM on 2-02-2006
Remember the one use DVDs (divx or divix? not to be confused with the Divx player/codec... i think) from a few years ago? They bombed. This will, too.
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jpmist said 9:36AM on 2-02-2006
OK so I'm fighting the temptation to buy the video just to see if running the file thru ffmpegX would convert it to something less temporary. Anybody know?
The other hack I've used is to play the video to EyeTV while recording it, thus making a permanent file of it.
Where there's a will there's a way. . .
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Alex said 9:38AM on 2-02-2006
Well, whoever is stupid enough to watch this show, is probably stupid enough to pay for it.
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William said 9:52AM on 2-02-2006
Jump back, what's that sound ?
Here she comes, full blast and top down.
I think the execs shouls be forced to listen to David Lee Roth's radio show until they come back to sanity. Rock on dudes.
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Doug said 9:56AM on 2-02-2006
This is still-born. No one will buy. CBS will determine there is no online market. And they will eventually die.
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glad said 7:18PM on 2-02-2006
trust me someone will buy but they just haven't heard of bit torrent. As for the exec who thought it up, well he should be sacked but I guess he'll be promoted. It's so lame it hurts thinking about it.
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tell blockbuster it's stupid said 9:46PM on 2-02-2006
I'm sure everyone reading this has, at one time or another, rented a DVD from Blockbuster for a couple bucks for the right to watch it a few times. Once you give the DVD back to blockbuster, you can't watch the movie anymore. Same kinda deal.
When you rent a DVD from Blockbuster, you're paying for the right to watch the movie until the day its due back, not to "own" it. When you buy a DVD from Target, you're paying for the right to watch the movie for as long as you own that silver disc, not to "own" the movie. With this, you're paying $1.99 for the right to watch one episode of Survivor for a day, not to "own" a copy of the episode.
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Will Cate said 10:40PM on 2-02-2006
Blockbuster dude - your facts are right but your conclusion is wrong. In either case, you're not paying to own any creative work, just the right to play the media.
Your DVD-rental analogy falls down because nobody is forcing me to return the DVD by some arbitary date. I can keep it for an extra week and pay late fees. I can keep it forever and pay Blockbuster for the DVD itself (or whatever other consequences that might bring).
The more accurate model to compare is the one which already exists: I pay iTunes 99 cents for a song, or $1.99 for a TV show, and I recieve, in essence, a perpetual license to play that media.
As mentioned in another comment above, consumers HATE media that self-destructs. They will stay away from it in droves. Whether or not you think it's "fair" is irrelevant: it will fail.
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Byron said 9:39AM on 2-03-2006
This will fail because of the stupidity in their license? Who would pay for something for 24hrs? I sure as hell won't. Then CBS will stop providing things for download, because their test failed...
They want it to fail, because they're greedy.
F@k 'em.
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Bob122989 said 2:31PM on 2-05-2006
Byron is DEAD-ON (along with most everyone else, but he has the point i wanted to make said the clearest).
CBS has made this and is calling it their "test of the water" so to speak, of course when you test with something that sucks, its gonna fail. take what apple did with itunes, they testing the water (so to speak) with the #1 show on ABC Lost (sadly CBS has CSI, which is the top show on TV) and it turned out to be a huge hit to sell on itunes, so then all the smart networks like comedy central and NBC said "hey, lets put our GOOD content on itunes and sell it, it'll be great!"
i was very sad to see that CBS was selling their content on google video (i love google, use it everyday, but KNOW they can't do videos better than itunes), i knew the second i saw it that CBS has made a huge mistake, and they will pay for it for years to come, or pay for it with their whole network.
My 2 cents anyway
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