Comments on: NBC Universal going Direct to consumers

By: Online video: Networks play musical chairs | Download Movies 101

Online video: Networks play musical chairs | Download Movies 101 — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:58:45 +0000

[...] creates NBC Direct, which makes the network’s hit programs available for downloading the same day they’re [...]

By: Glenn

Glenn — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:21:54 +0000

I found this comment on the Digg link to the N.Y. Times piece. From a guy named Otto:

“Who gives a crap? If I want their shows for free, I can already get them, in HD quality, without commercials, fully automatically (thanks to RSS feeds), in about half the time that it takes to download them using whatever service they come up with.

It’s called BitTorrent. They cannot win.”

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:15:17 +0000

Everyone seems to want their Ad revenue stream, and so I thought of NBC leaving iTunes, but alas, they are heading towards a disaster. I give it 36 hours before the “implosion” feature is hacked. However, I don’t seem them going back. Egos will causing a slow, flailing, digital death as they try one nightmarish scheme after another.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:23:57 +0000

Hey Mark: I couldn’t agree more. NBC Universal is flopping around instead of going public with a coherent strategy. Looks like Steve Jobs really got under their skin.

This feels like some of that good GE management. Ignorance in action fueled by arrogance, buzzwords and whiteboards.

I do like the part where NBC Uni plans to push the shows to viewers, though. That feels new and smart.

They really have no grasp of the audience they’re dealing with. In the decade that I worked with new media in Hollywood, I never met a studio exec who got it. The guy at New Line came closest. (Go look at the studios’ crummy Web sites.)

It was hilarious to watch these highly paid suits (and some of my bosses) get woodies listening to slick young guys with nothing going but a stupid concept, a Blackberry and a laptop they could snap shut.

I was at the table for a Hollywood meeting with Steve Jobs once. He was pitching iTunes a year or so before launch. Talk about smartest guy in the room. … Freaking amazing.

Thanks for the comment. Looking forward to your next one … Glenn

By: Truemors :: NBC Goes ‘Direct’ to Downloaders

Truemors :: NBC Goes ‘Direct’ to Downloaders — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:28:31 +0000

[...] you hear that NBC is going to let consumers to download its TV shows on the night they’re broadcast? The files are free, but they self-destruct in seven days [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:43:06 +0000

Just a quick note here. It seems to me that when you start using a service that is cross-platform (iTunes), and later decide that it is not all that you expected it to be, you should NOT switch to a service that immediately alienates close to half of you potential viewership! (While it is true that Apple does not come close to half of the market share on computers, it can be argued that more than half of online viewers use a mac.)
Not a smart move on your part and it shows a severe lack of understanding of who your online viewers are. While I am a mac user, I get more than half of my online content from other sources besides iTunes. There are other options out there that a savy media group should have looked into.

By: NBC Universal walks on iTunes Store | Download Movies 101

NBC Universal walks on iTunes Store | Download Movies 101 — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:10:04 +0000

[...] 9/20: NBC Uni unveils NBC Direct, a service that allows consumers to download TV shows on the night they air. The files are good for [...]