14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's video capable iPod marks the beginning of a new age in more ways than one.
The availability of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" on the Music Store, at $1.99 per episode had deep and far reaching effects. Suddenly, the average consumer was shown that TV was no longer chained down in the old mentality of watching a certain program at a certain time or remembering to record them for future watching.
Apple offered a slice of on demand TV, and the public loved it, buying over one million videos and short movies in less than one month. And that was just after the release, imagine when the video Pod becomes mainstream. Needless to say, major TV networks such as NBC and CBS want to ride the wave that Apple and ABC started, by offering on demand TV content.
Problem is, nobody does it like Apple. NBC offers commercial free telecasts of their programs, as well as programs from cable channels owned by the network, to DirectTV subscribers. CBS will be offering programs via Comsat Cable OnDemand service. Both networks charge 99 cents per episode, one dollar cheaper than iTunes, and while some people are calling this "stiff competition", this response is in no means geared towards the consumer.
For one thing, NBC's method of distribution requires a DirecTV Plus DVR, a device which would allow the user to just as easily record the original broadcast, and the CBS shows are available only to Comcast subscribers using Comcast's On Demand service. Neither of these is portable, and both are tied to their respective boxes, moreover, those TV shows you paid for are gone forever within the week when the new episode comes out.
So far, Apple's Music Store video iPod combo offers the only true, portable, solution for the average consumer. Why aren't NBC and CBS on the phone with Steve Jobs? Because they think they can do it better. So far, Apple does it best, and it's probably only a matter of time before the major TV networks realize it.