Continuing my catch-up on the stories of the past week: NBC Universal announced their planned alternative this 
week to making TV shows available for download on iTunes. The new plan, as described here, is that you will be able to download a version that "degrades" after one week for free, and it will include commercials that you cannot jump past, and you cannot load it onto any other player or other computer.
Apparently NBC has been pissed at iTunes because Apple maintains tight controls on the amount to be charged for each program, which also means that it tightly controls the price paid to program distributors like NBC. And NBC, apparently felt they deserved a premium for The Office, which was, far and away, the most popular download.
And now, well, it's not.
This week's Top 10 TV downloads on iTunes is surprisingly broad - it includes The Hills, Glenn Close's new series Damages from FX, the Disney Family left field hit Greek... and, an episode of The Office, as well as Psych, from Universal's USA Network that could also use the broad exposure.
The point is that if you wonder what will be seen in the culture as we head into premiere week for the networks... it won't be NBC if this goes through... and it won't be missed (there will be testing in October, and perhaps most disastrously, the new service... is not available for Macs).
That can't be good. Given the way iPod has reshaped the viewing and listening market, it's pretty much the case that resistance is futile. Given last year's disastrous season (which led to the replacement of their head of Entertainment Programming, rumors of being sold by GE, etc), NBC can't really afford to (pardon my French) screw with its audiences, especially the cute mix of geeks, cool humor fans and office drones who have made The Office a cult phenom, breaking into the mainstream (giving props to the work Ricky Gervais did in creating the British version that started this). In short, the people who watch The Office are... bloggers, and other people who care, deeply about the web. They are iPod users and YouTube fans (NBC Universal has been especially zealous in trying to pull random content - everything from SNL sketches to music videos - from YouTube as well... unless they control it), and they won't take kindly to being denied content when they want it the way they want it.
Hitting the popular zeitgeist is not easy; especially now, when the audiences for TV shows have shrunk dramatically, the choices are more widespread thanks to cable, and the delivery models are falling apart (even just compared a few years ago, you just hear much less about people relying solely on network television - people have access to a multitude of options, despite what would appear to be expensive barriers to say, iPod service). NBC can ill-afford to mess up what has been a year of fragile successes with cult-y types of programs - Heroes being their other real bright spot, as well as the cult of Tina Fey that's driving the buzz for 30 Rock.
Personally, I think there's nothing to fear; it's quite likely will have to limp back, tail between its legs, having proved - to an industry terrified of the new technological landscape - that resistance is futile. The real shame would be if the lack of access hurts shows like The Office, which is genuinely genius, or 30 Rock, which needs a little more lovin' to become a hit, never mind Heroes, which relies more than the others on web based buzz. We audience types can be soooo fickle. Ooops... sorry about that vase.
I love Tina Fey. I'm really late to discover 30 Rock, but I love it.
Posted by: Leigh | September 23, 2007 at 09:45 PM