Who’s the big daddy in online television streaming? Netflix. This week Netflix did something really worthwhile for customers and points viewers to the direction Apple’s next Apple TV needs to go. Netflix lets you download select movies and TV shows to be viewed offline later. That means there’s no need for an internet connection. Load up on the select content, view while you’re on an airplane or traveling by car.
That’s a great idea, of course, and it’s likely to spread, but it should be obvious to Netflix, Apple, Google, Amazon, cable TV companies, and content producers what all of us want in the near future. It’s simple.
All content, on any device, all the time.
Seriously. What else could you want? That covers every scenario. No more packages. Let me pay for what I watch. That means content providers and distributors could put a price tag on any TV show ever produced, any movie ever distributed, and make it available for download and viewing on any popular device.
The technology is there already so what’s the problem?
It’s all about status quo; whereby all the players now preserve the gravy train so others don’t get an undeserved slice of the pie (it’s mid-week, so I got a discount on mixed metaphors). Nobody in the video content business wants Apple to do to TV what it did to music (other than save it from a slowly rotting death). Apple’s iTunes Music Store is the world’s largest music retailer and there’s a general fear that Apple could do the same thing to video content.
Let me repeat what everyone wants and then compare it to what is available.
All video content, available on any device, at any time. That means we can subscribe to a service and get x-number of downloads; either stream-to-view, or download to view later, and on any popular device; Mac, Windows PC, tablets and smartphones.
If the technology is there already, and the content has been digitized appropriately, then why can’t we get such a service?
There are too many cooks in the kitchen, too many disparate distribution arrangements in place, and too many greedy participants to let it happen. If you could download every video content program ever made from iTunes, why would you need a cable TV service? If you could get access to any TV show or movie at any time, why would you view a TV or cable network?
See the problem?
Everyone in the industry already has a slice of the pie and they’re not willing to share with newcomers, and fully afraid of the concept. Worse, what we know of TV and movie entertainment is changing by the day, thanks to Netflix, YouTube, Facebook and other entities that create their own new content (in some cases, user created) and have taken viewers away from traditional media content sources.
I know what I want. I know what I’m willing to pay for. And I know it’s not going to happen that way. When Apple moves the bar closer to that goal I’ll recommend an Apple TV again.
doug says
I hear this all the time and I want to scream! It’s already here!! Everyone says they want alacarte programing but they find they are unwilling to pay for it. Apple has offered this via iTunes for years. Purchasing season passes to shows gives you access to virtually everything on TV. Add in the sports packages and you are good to go.
The problem is that people see their cable bill as a mandatory expense and the programing they watch on it as “free” and they don’t want to pay for something that they currently get for “free”.
We cut the cord 5 years ago and stopped paying almost $100/month in DirectTV bills. That afforded us over 30 seasons of shows on iTunes each year, before we started getting creative and purchasing iTunes gift cards @ 15-20% discount. Adding that in an you could purchase around 40 season passes of shows/year. Commercial free! Available on All of your devices.
The beauty is that after years of doing this you own your re-runs! Now we are getting sucked back into the subscription model with netflix and Hulu and we purchase less over all and spend less over all. But for a number of years I was living the dream! You should try it.
cal worthington says
Keep screaming, Doug. But you’re wrong. Ala carte is not here, never has been, and I think Kate is right; it never will be.
iTunes does NOT offer everything on demand. It only offers a small percentage of network TV fare; thousands of TV shows and movies, yes, but on a per-show-basis, far more expensive than having a cable TV package (dependent upon what you watch, and how much, of course).
For me, the math doesn’t work on iTunes. Where is CNN? Where is Discovery Channel? Yes, Netflix, Hulu, CBS, DirecTV Now, SlingTV and others are worth a look, but all most of them do is recapture cable TV from 30 years ago at 21st century prices.
All content, anytime, and on any device is not iTunes. It’ll never happen.
Jim Sheppard says
I have to vote with Doug. I do not have cable. I got tired of the incessant ads and dumped it. I get my TV via iTunes and it costs me much, much less per month than FiOS ever did. Those sports events that I really want to see are either not available due to being in the blackout zone or can be viewed at a friends with the added plus of some social time. As an old widower, the social time is quite nice.
Given what I save using iTunes, I would have to watch TV 15 hours/day to spend as much as I was just for basic cable. I would like o see iTunes offerings expand but not enough to justify going back to the extortion that is cable.
iggy pence says
The problem here is math. TV shows average $1 to $3 a pop. That means that watching three shows a day, 1 hour to 30-minutes each, still hits $100 a month, which is about my monthly cable TV bill which includes internet access and a DVR to record and binge watch whatever I want, and I get local news, all the major networks, and plenty of movies which cost extra on iTunes. I don’t see how cable TV is extortion. You pay a price, you get to watch a number of channels. With iTunes, you pay a price, you get to watch a number of TV shows or movies. The difference is that cable TV costs less for more, while iTunes costs more for less.