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Why do people buy TV shows when there free on network sites?

skye12

skye12

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 11, 2006
1,211
2
Austin, Tx
I know if your going on a plane or something you have might want to.
But most of the Tv shows are readily viewed (streaming)from Sci-fi, ABC, NBC etc for the entire season, sometimes even last season.

Why are so many people spending the money?
 
I have come up with the following reasons why I buy shows from iTunes.

1.) The same reason I bought them on DVD -- to own them and watch them whenever I feel like it.

2.) I can't take them with me -- no wi-fi signal on a plane across the country.

3.) No commercials -- and no stupid "click here so we know you are watching our commercial".

4.) I'm trying to single-handedly save the US economy, one season pass at a time. :cool:
 
No commercials, (more) uniform quality, watch them on my tv (via AppleTV), portability, and the pride of ownership.

Someday I plan on just setting a playlist on random and watching the Thanatoast Channel.
 
Well, I have rarely bought a TV show, other than the few impulse buys. Since Hulu, that is going to be even rarer now. However, not every episode is available online, as the broadcasters want you to buy or at least rent DVDs. That could be one reason.

In any case, streaming is not the long term answer, even if they place every episode of every TV show on the internet. The big reason is the commercials. Right now, there are not that many during streaming shows, but rest assured the more popular streaming gets the more commercials there will be. Soon, we will have to endure 5-10 commercials every 5 minutes, just like it is with the broadcasts now. The only way around it is paying, either for owning or renting the content. It may even be Netflix style, you may get to watch many different shows by paying a flat fee. In the end, studios has to make money somehow. Pay or endure ads...
 
well i tend to really on watch older shows and i seriously doubt they are online on the network site... the shows i like, i can watch them over and over and over..
 
I have an Eye TV and ATV. The ETV is not hooked up because I have a cable going to my TV, one to my modem, and then the third would be the ETV. The cable here is already subpar to what I am accostomed to watching and I just really haven't gotten around to it. Though I will one day ... maybe next year. ;)

I will watch shows on the internet that I refuse to buy. It's more like, I want to see this show but paying $2.00 for it is absurd. Other shows are shows I love to watch and will re-watch. I lost my DVR when I moved at the beginning of the year so I replaced it with ATV.

The shows on the internet are not great, I can't full screen, I can't watch from my couch, sometimes pausing is an issue, stopping to leave in the middle means you must sit through that crap all over again, the list goes on.

As someone else said, I can take TV shows I buy with me if I so choose. I still buy DVDs because I like the physical item in my hand and I can loan them out if I so choose. I also find that iTunes charging what they do for movies when you get nothing more than the movie is absurd.

Free is not always better. I am no videophile, but I can tell choppy internet feeds when I see them.
 
I don't buy shows, and I don't have cable. All the shows I watch either come from Hulu.com or Abc.com... I seriously don't think that watching one 15-30 second ad in every ad block is all that troublesome, certainly not worth $2 to get rid of. I have video out on my work laptop so I just hook it up to my TV, check off the shows I want to watch, and its just like having cable.
 
skye12 said:
I know if your going on a plane or something you have might want to.
But most of the Tv shows are readily viewed (streaming)from Sci-fi, ABC, NBC etc for the entire season, sometimes even last season.

Why are so many people spending the money?
Click to expand...

Because I refuse to watch TV in my web browser. It's limiting. That's what I have a Hi Def TV and home theater setup for.

Regards,
Michael
 
mallbritton said:
Because I refuse to watch TV in my web browser. It's limiting. That's what I have a Hi Def TV and home theater setup for.

Regards,
Michael
Click to expand...

To watch compressed, SD content?:p

I never had cable until I went to college. Honestly, there's not a whole lot a watch now that I do have it. Reruns of Home Improvement, Texas Ranger, Speed, and the history channel. Not to mention cable pretty much is nothing but reruns.
I download some tv shows from "other sources" and honestly don't feel a bit sorry about it. They're available for free anyway. It's just like me recording it, only I don't have to go through the hassle. It's not like a movie where i'm going to just sit down and watch it several times.

I guess it's not really a problem anyway since most of what I watch is downloaded content anyway. There's not a whole lot worth watching on TV anymore.
 
pointandclick said:
To watch compressed, SD content?:p
Click to expand...

Heh. No...

I don't watch any SD channels on DirecTV since I got the HD DVR. NFL Football in Hi Def is truly beautiful.

You might want to check out Sons of Anarchy on FX. It's good, entertaining new content.

Regards,
Michael
 
skye12 said:
I know if your going on a plane or something you have might want to.
But most of the Tv shows are readily viewed (streaming)from Sci-fi, ABC, NBC etc for the entire season, sometimes even last season.

Why are so many people spending the money?
Click to expand...

Can't speak for anyone else, but the reasons I buy them are as follows
1) I can watch them where I want, when I want and how I want
2) There are no adverts (I can't tell you how important that is!)
3) They only cost $1.99 each episode
4) It encourages more companies to put shows on the iTMS
 
Phil A. said:
Can't speak for anyone else, but the reasons I buy them are as follows
1) I can watch them where I want, when I want and how I want
2) There are no adverts (I can't tell you how important that is!)
3) They only cost $1.99 each episode
4) It encourages more companies to put shows on the iTMS
Click to expand...

Only $1.99 an episode? Just think... iff you only watch one show a day... that's only an extra $59.70 a month.:rolleyes: Maybe it's worth it for some people.
 
It makes sense if a show is really your favorite. Also, there are only a few
30 second commercials on these streaming videos which is why most hour shows are approx 42 minutes.
 
skye12 said:
Why are so many people spending the money?
Click to expand...

I used to have a DVR supplied by my cable company to record the shows I wanted to watch. I've found that in my case, it's actually CHEAPER to get rid of the DVR and buy season passes from iTunes for the shows I like.

Season passes for 5 shows= $200.
DVR Rental+HBO and digital channels that I never watched= $240/year.

I used to have a Miglia TV (similar to EyeTV), but I found that the video quality wasn't that great, and I still had to schedule recordings, and edit commercials, or fast-forward through them. Apple TV/Itunes allows me to buy the season pass and forget it....the shows download automatically when they're available and then I have them instantly available for an iPod, or either of my tv's. I'm willing to pay for the convenience and the options that the iTunes/AppleTV package offers.

I know my example doesn't work for everyone's situation, but it makes sense in mine.
 
Chris Rogers said:
you can put eyeTV shows on your iPhone and the shows are "free" after you buy the device - their software allows you to edit content, ie commercials
Click to expand...

True. But the editing portion and lack of ease (it takes less steps using itunes and the istore) takes up more the $2 of my time.
 
plumbingandtech said:
True. But the editing portion and lack of ease (it takes less steps using itunes and the istore) takes up more the $2 of my time.
Click to expand...

I guess this may be the determining point for some people. I'd just fast forward through the commercials. I can't fathom paying for something that you can get for free (i guess you are kind of paying anyway when you have cable, though the price is spread out).

But to each their own :)
 
Chris Rogers said:
I guess this may be the determining point for some people. I'd just fast forward through the commercials. I can't fathom paying for something that you can get for free (i guess you are kind of paying anyway when you have cable, though the price is spread out).

But to each their own :)
Click to expand...

I should note I have a TiVo and that's where I watch my stuff mostly, but if I miss a show or if a show turns out to be good (that I did not bother to record on it) and I want to watch it from the beginning, i will then go back and buy the missing eps on itunes.
 
Chris Rogers said:
you can put eyeTV shows on your iPhone and the shows are "free" after you buy the device - their software allows you to edit content, ie commercials
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth. Beats buying them on itunes, beats dvr-ing them ('cept maybe TiVo). Especially with the smart searchs (every time certain shows come on, they get recorded - even works for specific episodes!)

ComSkip is your friend.

EyeTV is the main - maybe even only - reason an Apple TV has made it to my shopping list.
 
iTunes TV show purchases are not for the masses. There's no way I'd pay for a single ep of any TV show unless I was in it. I guess it makes sense for some, but these are not really normal TV watchers anyway, except those buying becasue it's their favorite all time shows.
 
comskip for EyeTV

plumbingandtech said:
True. But the editing portion and lack of ease (it takes less steps using itunes and the istore) takes up more the $2 of my time.
Click to expand...

It's worth pointing out that someone ported comskip to work with EyeTV. In runs in the background and marks the comericals in any new recording made in EyeTV. So literally it takes me about 30 seconds to double check that it detected the commercials correctly, and tell EyeTV to remove those portions. What you then have is a commercial-free, DRM-free MPEG2 in HD that you can do whatever you want with - Burn to DVD, put on your iPod/iPhone, use in iMovie, view in applications other than QT and iTunes, etc.

Edit: Didn't notice that tefleming already mentioned comskip!
 
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