NBC Direct: Why Designing Consumer Entertainment Services By Committee Is A Dumb Idea
from the i-know,-we'll-make-it-suck dept
Even as NBC is working with Fox on their "Hulu" online video effort, the company, which has shown a stunning lack of understanding of the trends and economics it faces, has launched its NBC Direct video download offering that is noteworthy only for the amount of scorn being heaped upon it from almost every reviewer out there. It appears to have made every single mistake in the book. Limited only to Windows users with IE, draconian DRM, bizarre policies that make the content expire quickly and, of course, clunky software that's difficult to set up and use. Excellent work. Perhaps if NBC spent a little less time worrying about poor corn farmers and a little more on actually providing a product that people wanted, it would get somewhere. Instead, it seems pretty clear that Jeff Nolan is exactly right in describing what happened here. NBC Direct was designed by committee. A bunch of different groups had their say and wanted to make sure this or that "feature" (i.e., "restriction") got added, so as not to interfere with some other plan. None of those people were concerned about the overall product or (gasp!) the customer experience. So what you get is a totally unusable (and, really, who would want to?) service that was a total waste of time and effort by NBC. And, this is the company that's blaming Apple for destroying the entertainment business? Compare NBC's approach to how Apple designs its products, with a strict focus on how it will be used by the consumer. For all the blame NBC is throwing at Apple, it might want to take a look at itself first.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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Filed Under: design by committee, tv downloads
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To be fair
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Apple doesn't use committees?
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Only when they deserve it
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I think More Like...
There is really no reason to use NBC's new service. Might as well just watch the regular streaming version.
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Re: I think More Like...
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A character in HellGate says it best
'When you mod my equipment, it MAY explode. That's a fuckin feature!'
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You Apple bashers are missing the point
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The Browser/OS thing
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Re: The Browser/OS thing
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At least they are trying
It is pretty hard to turn around a 50-60 year old company in such a short time (I know some will respond that TV via the internet has been around for a long time but I am speaking in relative terms).
I'm not saying we shouldn't criticize but at least pay lip service to the fact that NBC is trying.
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Re: At least they are trying
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