Another TV Show Arrives... Microsoft Competition? [Updated]

no way microsoft will beat apple in the media itunes things..

The subscription based method might actually make sense for television shows. After all, people are used to television being a transient medium. Subscription versus pay for download seems to be the distinction between replacing your cable connection and replacing your DVD collection. I think there is room for both in the market, and it will be interesting to see if consumers agree with me.

I agree. Subscription for music, I scoff at. Subscription for TV shows? Well, I already subscribe to TV shows by paying for cable. So if you deliver the shows I want at a lower price than cable? Yeah, I'd like that.

Pity the Microsoft approach would probably not work on my Mac. Dealing with Windows ain't worth it.

i can see a subscription model work for tv shows. i tried writing something to explain myself, but it just came across as bad writing. i'm too tired to think. but for some reason, only known to me, i think the subscription service could work.

I personally don't see the appeal of watching a TV show on a 2" screen, but if it means Apple is breaking ground once again, great. As for M$ getting in the game, I have not seen any previous attempt to compete with Apple (such as in the on-line music arena) amount to much of anything. They just don't seem to have it in them to do anything original and compelling anymore . . . (did they ever?)

The more TV shows the better in my opinion. Not that we can get TV Shows over here but hey, it's nice to know they are available somewhere - it means they might be available here someday.

Yep, Microsoft download service will most likely equal WMP 10 involvement and that means that it will have zero impact on my downloading habits. Not to mention it will probably not work at all with the iPod and therefore is a bit of a waste of time on MS's behalf because as of this moment there are no really strong competitors to the iPod. You need a good product before you can deliver the content. Apple got the iPod in our frame of mind ages before launching the iTMS.

microsoft often says they will enter this and that market but then nothing happens. i don't think the revenues in the tv show market will be high enough to justify setting up the infrastructure from scratch. itunes/ipod already existed so the setup wasn't too expensive for apple. but any other competitor would have to pay upfront for the set up. and for years to come the market will be relativley small because the cable/satellite subscriptions will remain.

Apple is more like the DVD route just faster and lesser quality. i imagine that maybe being different than the normal way you get TV would be better. in my mind, if it's subsription, i might as well get cable and a DVR.

i think the main reason why FOX hasn't and probably won't sign on is because their DVD sales do so well. offering each episode individually up for sale could mean instead of buying the Simpsons season 6 DVDs you only buy a handful of episodes that you especially like. kinda like what happened to music.

i still think ABC should put Alias online. i think if the had, i might have been dumb enough to get every episode as it came out given that i don't have a TV right now.

microsoft often says they will enter this and that market but then nothing happens. i don't think the revenues in the tv show market will be high enough to justify setting up the infrastructure from scratch. itunes/ipod already existed so the setup wasn't too expensive for apple. but any other competitor would have to pay upfront for the set up. and for years to come the market will be relativley small because the cable/satellite subscriptions will remain.

Agreed. Why sink the capital into a market even more dubious than the music one? Microsoft can't keep throwing good money after bad in a half-butted attempt to take a tiny piece of Apple's pie. They're going to have to focus on their core competencies of business software, Xboxes and...servers?

The days when Microsoft could enter any market they chose (or pretend to enter any market) and frighten the competitors away are long gone.

David :cool:

Yeah - who cares about each and every show as they appear available in ITMS. At some point that story will be old - it already is to me.

I agree wholeheartedly about the fact that we already are 'subcribing' to tv shows. most of us have the upgraded dv recorder provided by our cable company so we can do that anyway. Only a few people would be interested in having those shows on the road. This video ipod is great in a novelty sense, but not for regular viewing of shows. We still want to watch good shows on a 60-inch plasma.