Why the NBC Announcement Hurts Us All

Posted on September 20, 2007, under Media, Software, Tools and Services.

Yup, we all knew it was coming the second NBC announced it was pulling its shows from iTunes. NBC just announced it’s new service, and everyone is talking… even the fake Steve Jobs. Bottom line is it looks like another DRM’d sucktastic proprietary service. Shows are free for the first seven days, must be played on special player, no Mac client (yet), no iPod or other media device support, it’s everything we knew was coming. While everyone is focusing on this, that, and the other thing: think about who this really hurts… Us! The consumer!

Yup, that’s right, this is a HUGE step back in digital media. Why? Because it’s not going to work. If someone has to have an NBC account, ABC account, CBS account, and the same amount of authorized players, and can’t watch the show on any other medium than their computer… are people actually going to use it? No, probably not. Which means the average consumer, non-geeks, are just going to watch it on television… which is exactly what the media companies want. They do not want change! They want to make sure you are watching shows, at the scheduled broadcast time, unable to rewind or fast forward, and heavens-for-bid skip over that really annoying commercial you have seen a zillion times, or even rewind to see that commercial you can’t get enough of; because it works for them. They do not have to change a thing, and continue to rake in the steady stream of money that they have become to enjoy. They are even lobbying Washington to make sure the Government guarantees that they continue to dominate the market.

So bottom line is we lose! It’s not going to work, and it’s going to be much easier for someone to just watch it on TV; and that sucks!

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2 Replies to "Why the NBC Announcement Hurts Us All"

tinymeme on September 20, 2007

I didn’t read too much about the story, just that we’re getting free nbc shows. I’m disappointed to learn it’s limited viewing, restricted time limits, and DRM protected to boot. It’s not such great news to me anymore…