Every now and then I find some bit of technology that just makes me all giddy and happy and I feel like I have to share this with everyone. I have found such a thing.
Last Wednesday when I went to see Pride and Prejudice, I got home late and then realized that I had forgotten to set my VCR to tape Lost. Now, I hate being so addicted to a TV show that I feel like I have to tape it but I am addicted to Lost so there you go. And yes, I was very bummed that I had forgotten to tape the show. So…I spent some time later in the week trying to figure out how I could catch this episode.
I have to confess that eventually, I decided to see if I could download it from the internet even though I know that is illegal. Yeah, that is right. I would sell out my morals for an episode of a TV show! I hate to admit it but it is true. Luckily, I didn’t have to.
My search for downloads led me to the Apple itunes site. It turns out that Apple has a deal with ABC and they are offering episodes of Lost for downloading at a mere $1.99 each and it is perfectly on the up and up and legal and everything. Also, no commercials. I was so pleased about that last thing that I might find myself downloading episodes anyways although, since one has to wait a full day after the episode airs to do the download, I might find that I cannot wait. Still, this is pretty good news and it means no more missed episodes of TVshows for me.
I hope more of the major networks will start doing this. I love the idea of On Demand programming and even pay per show programming is pretty cool. I wonder if this could lead to more niche programming. There are a lot of TV shows that I like that end up getting cancelled because a network wont support them. Sometimes they survive in syndication but sometimes they don’t. What would happen if producers of such a show could offer it on demand were people pay something like $2 to watch an episode? It could mean that more shows survive if they have enough people willing to pay.
It also means that TV shows would not be at the mercy of advertisers who have been known to pull ads from controversial TV shows. I have long thought that this is why almost all of the really good TV shows of the last five years have been on pay cable channels like HBO: Wonderfalls and Lost being the two exceptions I can think of.
Anyways, technology is fun isn’t it?
4 comments:
That is a pretty good idea. Glad you got to see your episode!
So far I am enjoying my "freedom" from cable.
Wow, I had no idea that something like that was available. We have Tivo now and have Lost set to record automatically, but if for some reason I ever missed it I now know how to get my fix! Thanks for the tip!
wow! that is super cool.
I won't miss an episode of Lost..Tape...tape...tape....but sometimes I too forget....I just love that show...you just never know what to expect next....I am always confused when it is over... (more so than normal) lol
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