PVR Wire

1. uh, so you DON'T have to watch the commercials.

Posted at 4:38PM on Apr 10th 2006 by Braxton Beyer

2. And you can't take the free version with you on your iPod.

Posted at 4:45PM on Apr 10th 2006 by LA Dave

3. Actually if ABC does it right, it could prove to be a very successful experiment. I think what ABC is really trying to see is how many commercials are customers willing to sit through. I would assume each chapter will have at least one commercial so that no matter how you slice it, you will never be able to completely avoid a commercial.

Where I think this idea could really take off is with shows the network has decided to remove from its primetime schedule. If the network has already paid a license fee to air the shows, they should be allowed to recoup some of that investment through netcasts.

This could also be good for producers who will not necessarily have the same limitations on time placed on them as they would with primetime broadcasts.

As the other posters stated, this free solution is not portable and you're forced to watch advertising, but I am not sure I understand why you are complaining about the fact that you're forced to watch commercials.

Posted at 5:36PM on Apr 10th 2006 by rjlawrencejr

4. This is interesting and will help the industry figure out the difference between those who don't mind watching streaming content from a website (this deal) and those who like to download a local file and carry it with them (iTunes). I guess there are those people who like to watch streaming content on their phones, too..

This seems perfectly okay, to me, to ask people to watch commercials for what is basically "TV on a web page". $1.99 seems fair to watch the show without the commericals, so there's the value proposition there.

I think this is great--I just hope the actors and people involved with making these shows get paid.

Posted at 5:51PM on Apr 10th 2006 by mike

5. Try again ABC! I'm not sitting at my computer to watch an hour long show.

1.) Wake me when you have the programs on Comcast "On Demand" -- which would make the most sense. That way I can by pass the commercials, or get up and ignore them all together.
2.) Wait until the DVD's come out and rent them from Nextflix. Again, completely by passing the commercials.
3.) Buy the DVD set, record the shows that I like on to an SD card, convert those files to a video format to play on my iPod.

All 3 solutions avoid commercials. I pay for cable, I pay for the DVD's, I hate commercials -- end of story. This is just ABC being greedy and desperate, don't let them get away with it.


Also -- As for the Actors getting paid... again??? Do you get a bonus when your company makes a million dollar deal? Or do you just get your salary?

Posted at 8:37PM on Apr 10th 2006 by c.Lake

6. Not only is this an opportunity for ABC to test the waters for broadcasting their shows online, but it's also an opportunity for the advertisers to experiment with interactive ads. If they can redefine the TV commercial format so that it works in an interactive environment like the web, not only will the commercials be more effective but viewers will stop complaining about having to watch them -- at least in the beginning.

Posted at 9:09PM on Apr 10th 2006 by ReplayTVBlog

7. c.Lake

While I agree that we should always take a critical eye to business, your near righteous indignation seems a bit misplaced. You can hate commercials all you want, but the last time I checked, the Walt Disney Company, owners of ABC et al, is a business and the way they make money is buy selling our eyeballs to advertisers. Greed or no greed you do realize that all of your options involve making payments to another parter, who, in turn, will remit a portion of those funds back to Disney as well as the above the line talent associated with the program.

As has been stated by me and others, this is an experiment to see if this is even viable as an option. If it proves unsuccessful, Disney/ABC will go back to the drawing board. However, I know a small but growing faction of folks (especially college students), who do not have cable but have access to broadband either at home or through school who might see an upside to this form of IPTV.

Posted at 12:10AM on Apr 11th 2006 by rjlawrencejr

8. Let's not forget boys and girls, after the recent Disney acquisition of Pixar, Steve Jobs is one of the biggest stakeholders in Disney... which owns ABC. You do the math.

Posted at 11:07AM on Apr 11th 2006 by Spencer W.

9. To address the iTunes comments: Let's not forget boys and girls, after the recent Disney acquisition of Pixar, Steve Jobs is one of the biggest stakeholders in Disney... which owns ABC. You do the math.

Posted at 11:07AM on Apr 11th 2006 by Spencer W.

10. Will it be without any adware or banners? And why I can't take it on my iPod? :

Posted at 2:25PM on Apr 17th 2006 by Kayak

11. @ rjlawrencejr -- # 7

I know that working for ABC isn't easy, with all the daily ass kissing. But my "Righteous Indignation" stands! See... I actually speak of the public -- you know your boss's customers? Remember them? (The public doesn't like commercials -- This is why TIVO was invented! Duh!)

This is an ABC "experiment" that is going to FAIL! I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but nobody is going to go to ABC's crappy website, to watch an hour long show at their computer desk, riddled with commercials you can't skip! There... I just saved ABC a boat load of money. Your welcome.

Tell your bosses to put "LOST" on Comcast On Demand. Stop wasting time.

Posted at 2:37PM on Apr 17th 2006 by c.Lake

12. rjlawrencejr is right, "righteous indignation" or not. People are sick of commercials, and having advertising constantly shoved down their collective throats. We're tired of having 15-20 minutes on the hour sold out to advertisers, who end up paying between 1.50-2.00 for our time. I don't know about you guys, but I sure make a hell of a lot more than $2 every twenty minutes - yet, that is what the value of our attention is to these crapvertisers.

Sorry, but I pay $55 a month for cable. I'm not going to fork out an additional amount to the networks to watch TV commercial-free the way I want - I'm going to subscribe to ReplayTV and zap all ads for one low price of $12 a month. I suggest that the networks collectively get their heads out of their asses, to be quite frank, because I could just as easily download the TV shows I want to watch on BitTorrent and save the $55 a month.

Posted at 12:50PM on Apr 27th 2006 by hoqenishy