Olympics online video: Forget it, Mac

Olympics TV logo 2008NBC has gone live with its “Olympics on the Go” online video service, now active with footage from the Games’ trials.

I eagerly called up the site, now up at TV Tonic’s Olympic page, hoping to find the promised “near HD”-quality video, delivered via files that download semi-automatically onto the computer.

Here’s what I got instead:

nbc olympics online video imageBasically, you need Windows Vista and the latest version of Windows Media. I fit the profile on my laptop, and will report back. But for now, this post points to the absurdity of NBC and the Olympics not accommodating the many Mac owners, a demographic quite similar to that for sports programming.

Microsoft, of course, is in the mix, as a major ad sponsor and partner in the video operation. Microsoft, as in the creator of Vista and Windows Media.

For the “lucky ones” with (the widely disrespected) Vista, here are the system requirements.

Operating system:

Hardware:

“If you meet the software requirements above then you most likely meet these hardware requirements as well.”

Bandwidth:

“NBC Olympics On The Go delivers large video files; it may use a lot of bandwidth. It is not recommended for people using dial-up or metered broadband accounts.”

Here’s a link to the Olympics video quick start guide.

Incredible to find major media acting as if the Mac were still a second-tier computer system. Hulu, owned jointly by NBC Universal and Fox, doesn’t have sports as part of its deal with the NBC network. Prospects for the files showing up on that browser-based video service don’t look good.

The set-up is coming soon to the official NBC Olympics video page, which has some feature footage up there now.


NFL stream leads to all-access future

nfl logo for post on streaming videoThe NFL and NBC’s decision to start streaming their Sunday Night Football games signals an inevitable future: 100% free Internet access of all pro matchups.

The league and network confirmed Monday that the “Sunday Night Football Extra” project begins Sept. 4 (a Thursday) on NFL.com and NBCSports.com. The season-long freebie — supported by ads — is billed as a test.

These games already are broadcast coast-to-coast, of course, so there’s no real downside. (The games won’t be streamed outside of the U.S.) Quite a few viewers will run the stream along with their TV viewing, in order to access some of the interactive video listed below.

NBC’s total reach will expand a tad, with more out-of-home viewers catching the games. Wonder how the action will play on an iPhone at Applebee’s.

The nose of the pigskin is in the tent, no doubt about it:

The eventual prize for hardcore football fans will be live streams of all games — from wherever they’re played. Talk about your killer app.

The current all-access offering — DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket — scalps fans with a minimum charge of $270 per season. (For the high-def crowd that’s before “SuperFan” surcharges of $100, on top of existing HD fees.)

Sunday ticket remains a wonderful thing for those who a) have the gear and b) can afford it, but the concept clearly predates the Internet video phenomenon. Once an economic model is established for ad-supported streaming video — and that will take years, of course — the exclusionary Sunday Ticket will be shredded.

(DirecTV and the NFL currently sell PC and Mac access to all games worldwide.)

The Sunday Night Football Extra package will include:

The regular talent for the broadcast is Al Michaels (play-by-play), John Madden (analyst) and Andrea Kremer (sideline).

Here’s your lean-and-mean canned quote, from NBC Sports’ Dick Ebersol:

“In the first two seasons of ‘NBC Sunday Night Football,’ we created a new destination to reach viewers and changed traditional primetime football viewing habits.

Now, together with the NFL, we are adding the live streaming element where users can interact with the broadcast to enhance their experience.”


Save over $210 with DIRECTV.

‘Gossip Girl’ streaming back, in full

gossip girl web video image

Un-gag me with a spoon. “Gossip Girl” officially is returning to online video, with full episodes expected to resume streaming for the new season.

Reports in TV Week and the New York Times cited network president Dawn Ostroff as saying the ban on full episodes of “Gossip Girl” would be lifted (paying customers had access via the usual online retail channels, of course).

In a spectacular display of old-media boneheadedness, the CW got everyone’s attention back in April as the final five episodes were taken off the streaming menu. “The epicenter of the ‘Gossip Girl’ universe will be on The CW’s broadcast television airwaves,” Ostroff declared.

The woman is in her late 40s, making her a card-carrying old-media exec. Of online video, CW Ostroff groused in January, “We don’t make the kind of money we make when it’s on the air.”

Fans went BitTorrent right away, getting ad-free online episodes of “Gossip Girl” anyway. Some enterprising folks put up watchgossipgirl.net and viewgossipgirl.info — still supposedly streaming as of this evening, although the featured episode never started for me on either site.

Some people can’t get the show off TV anyway, with the CW unavailable in some areas of the country and Canada.

The idea was to boost ratings, which didn’t happen, at least in a meaningful way, TV Week reported. This is the network whose magazine series “CW Now” actually posted a 0.2/00 in late January. That’s TV biz talk for incredibly horribly bad.

The good news for fans broke yesterday, but not a single official word can be found on cwtv.com. A promising button that says “Update on full episodes” leads to the forum thread “cwtv.com to Pull Streaming of New Gossip Girl Episodes,” on which a single fan posted the news deep in. Man, you gotta think these are some deeply clueless TV folk.


CBS signs guys behind ‘lonelygirl15′

Lonelygirl15 cute poseIn a sign that CBS is getting serious about original web video content, the network signed the “lonelygirl15″ team to a first-look production deal.

EQAL is the the “social entertainment company” founded by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, who also created “KateModern.”

The hookup aims to “create and produce multiplatform television, nline and mobile entertainment for existing and future CBS television productions,” burns the press release on the online video deal, straight from the advertising “upfront” sessions in New York.

The webisode team will advise CBS on spinning off online content from its traditional broadcast properties.

Web guy Beckett says EQAL has some ambitious plans, along the lines of what’s often said by TV execs but rarely executed:

“Until now, online content associated
with TV shows has had virtually no real connection to the show’s narrative
experience. What CBS and EQAL are coming together to create is
groundbreaking and will be the first time that television stories will be
extended and amplified online in a way that takes full advantage of the
Internet’s capabilities for interaction and community. The extended
narratives online will give fans and viewers the opportunity for a whole
new level of engagement both in between airings of the TV episodes and as
standalone plot lines.”

The first-look deal is non-exclusive. In English, that means CBS has right of first refusal.

The “lonelygirl15” success story compares poorly and dramatically with the online drama venture “Quarterlife,” from TV dramady specialists Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick. “Quarterlife,” with better production values and arguably better acting, tried to make the leap to strike-stricken NBC but the web series was cancelled after one miserable airing. A followup attempt on Bravo failed as well.

The obvious difference here being “lonelygirl” knew better than to leave home for Tinseltown.

Last month, EQAL debuted with $5 million in financing from investors including “Survivor” producer Conrad Riggs and web-browser pioneer Marc Andreessen.

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HBO shows command iTunes premium

Tony Soprano for ipodsWasn’t too long ago that Apple and NBC Universal went to the mattresses over flexible pricing for TV episode downloads. NBC wanted it; Steve Jobs didn’t. NBC Uni walked.

The iTunes Store policy of one-price-fits-all is toast, however, thanks to the clout of HBO’s powerhouse series such as “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “The Sopranos.”

While the download price for “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “Flight of the Conchords” is set at iTunes’ standard $1.99 per episode, episodes of “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome” are priced at $2.99 per episode. HBO and Apple confirmed availability of the new downloads Tuesday and you can buy them now.

The iStore also has its version of a DVD box set: Entire seasons can be downloaded at prices lower than for DVDs. For example, season 1 of “Sopranos” goes for about $39.

For upcoming series, there’s a catch. Most TV nets allow their espisodes to go online a day or so after they air, but in this case it’s a package deal, with the series’ entire seasons going online day-and-date with their DVD releases, the New York Times reported in a story about the HBO-iTunes deal. This keeps the value proposition high for cable premium subscribers, but means the downloads will be something less than special, despite what your receipt says.

NBC Uni, meanwhile, last week unveiled a programming output deal with Microsoft for the portable Zune that covers hundreds of NBC shows. The price? Get this: a fixed $1.99. (OK that’s 160 Microsoft points.) Zune also now offers shows from Viacom’s Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.

Zune?

(updated 5.13 to reflect HBO confirmation of New York Times story)


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