iTunes - TV's New Viral Vehicle?

Scheduling one popular show against another for a long time was a way to block out the competition, as it was only easy to watch one show at a time.

With the integration of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) like TiVo into our lives, not only has skipping commercials become a breeze, but dual tuners allow us to watch one show and record the other for later viewing - or just watch both whenever we feel like it!

As technology advances, our lives are supposed to be easier, and our free time expanded, right? We know that that hasn't became true for many of us, especially those up and coming Gen Y'ers with company-provided cell phones who are unfortunately kept on a corporate leash. Luckily for broadcasters, we only have a finite amount of free time.

So what can they do to compete at this point? Make it more convenient for us to watch! Many channels have been hosting programs online in various forms for some time now. Desperate Housewives, for instance, invites viewers online to watch the episode again for free and Scrubs has advised that it may be downloaded on iTunes. Although these options have been present, neither have really been groundbreaking enough to cause huge changes in the way we watch TV.

This Fall season, television networks are getting serious about expanding the battleground beyond the TV.



Not longer after NBC dropped iTunes (or iTunes dropped NBC - depends on who you ask), Fox has picked up the slack by offering their new shows without ads for free - or at least the first episode of each. Only time will tell if this really puts a nail in NBC's coffin, or if NBC's new NBC Direct will take off.

Offering the shows for free on iTunes is brilliant. It is superior to offering them for free elsewhere, because many people are already browsing for content to purchase on iTunes and are more than willing to snag an episode for free. Those busy Gen Y'ers will be able to download it to their computers and watch it at their convenience - and not have to worry about streaming issues that have been seen with previous services offered by other networks.

Apple also benefits from the deal. As the message is transmitted about watching these new shows for free, the iTunes name is embedded as well. And the more that people see that watching TV shows via iTunes can be a viable option, the more quickly it will be adopted. Now if Apple would only give away the Apple TV for free or as part of a package, we could really see it take off. Or maybe they'll rent them out? Cable providers have been doing this with their boxes for years.

Only time will tell how this battle will turn out and whether it really will change the way that we watch TV. Stay (i)Tuned!