ABC Finally Sees The (Ad-Supported) Light
from the get-on-the-bus dept
We've watched TV networks stumble around a bit online, trying to find their way -- selling shows on iTunes or through Google, or using obtuse streaming methods. We've wondered for some time why they didn't simply make the shows freely available online, but keep advertisements in -- the same model that's worked pretty well for broadcast TV, and one that people are clearly in favor of. Finally, one network is going to try it, as ABC says it will soon offer ad-supported shows for download from its site. Free downloading of shows is already going on, with or without the networks. But if they can offer users easy, legitimate downloads -- without all sorts of stupid restrictions -- there's a good chance people will accept the ads. The broadcast channel is an outdated concept, and it looks like networks are very slowly starting to realize this. What took them so long?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Encourage it...
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Re: Encourage it...
-Qyiet
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No Subject Given
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just like tivo
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Streaming ad content gets sticky...
The network to whom we subscribed figured that if we could not track how many people were listening online, they would charge us an exorbitant 'blanket' fee for their service. They figured that we (a small family owned radio station in the middle of Montana..) would have a world-wide listener base and wanted to charge us accordingly! This was way above any possibility for the station to afford, so streaming was pretty much out of the question. We could still stream our local coverage of the local school sporting events, but the network music and advertising would be out of the question.
It all comes down to the dollar, in the end.
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Re: Encourage it...
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Re: Encourage it...
After I read the article I just put myself in the shoes of the exec's and was asking what would I think of the response to the decision to do this? It seems that keeping them in the doghouse after getting it together isn't serving as much of a motivator for change. But maybe it's just me since I know what it's like to be - professionally - in an endless cycle of trying to placate people who have no desire to be so.
Just an observation really. It's not important enough to me to have to justify, beyond explaining what I meant, so forget I said anything. :)
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read the text
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yippie
on an unrelated note, I like waffles.
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Re: Streaming ad content gets sticky...
From what you post I question the integrity of the folks you discussed this with. Sounds like they wanted to exploit your lack of technical knowledge.
Every single network provider monitors bandwidth usage, and can do so at a very granular level.
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Re: Streaming ad content gets sticky...
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