The Long Tail Comes to TV

After all the early jokes about "500 channels and nothing to watch," even the detractors must admit that choice has been great for TV quality. No, the sitcoms haven't gotten any better but they are sure easy to avoid. I watch clips during football games, which is just enough to remind me how bad they are.

Cable was the first Schumpeterian gale. Everybody paid attention. But the effect of TiVo has been underplayed. I now select from all the channels all week: a huge increase in choice.

When I watch a broadcast show, it's usually on DVD. People are talking about "Lost" and I just learned that David Fury is a writer; he was one of my favorite "Buffy" writers (dude wrote "Fool For Love" in Season Five!). If I watch, I'll probably just buy the DVDs (like everyone else seems to). I caught "Buffy" and "Firefly" long after they were off. Even though "Angel" was still on, I just waited for DVDs so that I could watch in order and uninterrupted.

This is "Long Tail" TV watching and the drawback is expense. Twelve seasons of Buffy and Angel at $45 or so, a rack of British Comedies and I have quite an investment in my entertainment cocoon. But this is going to bring individual control and choice without expense:

TiVo Plans to Allow Unlimited TV-Show Downloads to iPods (paid site, sorry!)
Since Apple introduced a new iPod that plays video last month, users of the device have been able to buy episodes from only five television series produced by just one media company, Walt Disney Co. Soon, virtually any show that airs on TV will be available for watching on an iPod, courtesy of TiVo Inc.

TiVo Monday announced a plan to let users of its popular digital video recorders download any TV show stored on their TiVo boxes onto iPods. The move, which TiVo is making without Apple Computer Inc.'s involvement, has the potential to greatly expand the selection of shows iPod users can watch on their devices beyond such fare as "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," the two hit series from Disney's ABC network that Apple is selling for $1.99 an episode through its iTunes Music Store. TiVo's plan is rankling some TV executives as the networks seek to habituate users to pay to download shows, beyond what they may already pay for cable or satellite-TV service.

Shares of TiVo rose Monday on the news, up 5.7% to $5.57 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

This will force more producers to offer legal digital versions of TV episodes at a reasonable cost. The medium will be further extricated from its reliance on schedule and the people will be able to buy lower down the tail, essentially freed from the shackles of popularity.

Media and Blogging Posted by jk at November 21, 2005 10:22 AM