If there’s one TV feature I want above all else, it’s an infinite on-demand catalog. I don’t want five episodes of Burn Notice, or the second season of Weeds, I want to be able to start at the beginning of a show’s run and have access to every episode that’s ever aired. Such a model doesn’t exist today. In fact, Clicker released research this week that shows just how far off we are. Despite the fact that 90% of broadcast TV shows (i.e. shows from the five major free networks) from the 2009-10 season became available online at some point, 60% went offline again within three weeks of airing. Certain shows, like Law & Order and The Mentalist, never made it to the Web at all.
The practice of windowing content is in clear effect here. You can get stuff for free, but only for a limited time. The problem is, so far there’s no good pay service available that completes the package. In theory, Hulu Plus is the answer to the catalog conundrum, but in early tests, Dave has so far been unimpressed. Netflix comes closest for me because there are certain shows available starting from season one, episode one. But the overall options are still woefully limited. The holy grail remains elusive.
It drives me crazy when I’m trying to watch a season on Netflix and certain episodes say “only available on disk.” WTH? It makes one feel like the rug has been pulled out from under them.
I also don’t usually want to pay to stream tv shows (I already have a satellite subscription!) but I just saw that Amazon (via Roku) has all seasons of Mad Men available which I’ve been wanting to get into.
I wholeheartedly agree. For example, we missed Glee when it first came on, but now we’re hearing about it alot and it sounds like a show my wife would like. However, I’m not willing to invest the money to buy the entire series up to this point before I know whether or not we’d be interested. I’d like to watch the first five or six shows and then see if it’s something we like.
But, since we have no way to do that, it’s not worth the effort. We already have plenty of shows to watch, so we’re not going to do any extra effort to add another – thus Glee simply loses out on us as future watchers. There are many other examples like this for us… guess the networks just don’t really want us watching their shows?
I think Mari hit the nail on the head. What people want is to watch any program, any time, on any device (mobile, computer, big screen TV). And most Americans are willing to pay to some extend – we already do that with cable and satellite TV. A DVR is almost right in letting you watch anything that was broadcast. Nevertheless, a DVR can add cost on top of an already expensive cable or satellite bill. Furthermore, people have been asking for a la carte programming – “just let me pay for the channels or programs that I watch”. We’re still waiting for that, and internet programming from Hulu still doesn’t offer enough variety to satisfy many consumers, and it frequently is highly compressed and difficult or impossible to put onto the living room screen.
Just wanted to chime in with 100% support. I have been doing an experiment this month. Was not setup or thought of in advance, just something that has evolved. I have not watched cable since first of the month. Only NETFLIX and HULU (mostly NETFLIX by say 95%). The Seasons only on DVD are killing me. And whats worse, example “The Shield”, I can watch Season 6 but every season before is on DVD. But access only on DVD or erratic INSTANT availability is killing me. Not making my day.
Im like Dave (as he stated once I believe) I want to start with Season 1 Ep 1 and go right through. I love it. Just did it with Rescue Me (will be missed at end ) The Riches (need more of that show or an ending please!) and WEEDS.
Anyway, I am in full support of the comments / subject matter in this entry.
Rhapsody + Sonos = Holy Grail for Music.
Anything anytime.
$9.99 per month.
My cable bill is 7X that amount plus $20 for Netflix and I’m still not even close.
I don’t see why disc renting via netflix combined with streaming is not the closest option here… netflix should be able to turn discs fast enough for most people on a 3 out a time plan to cover continuous watching…
I suppose one question is how much people are willing to pay for that “holy grail”…
“I suppose one question is how much people are willing to pay for that “holy grail”…”
Exactly. And the cost of that holy grail is waaaaaay out of the reach of the non-rich.
Look at what a season of a single TV show costs on the iTunes store. Cut the price in half for a month long rental instead of ownership, and you get an idea of just how very much it would cost.
Windowing is the way the cablecos and streamers manage to provide a reasonably large selection at a price within reach of the average consumer.
If you want infinite choice, you’re going to have to pay high ala carte prices for each and every thing you want to watch. And ala carte pricing always costs more than the lunch special.
“Rhapsody + Sonos = Holy Grail for Music. Anything anytime. $9.99 per month. My cable bill is 7X that amount plus $20 for Netflix and I’m still not even close.”
Music no longer can command any pricing power.
Video, through a combination of learning from music’s mistakes and inherent technological obstacles to widespread pirating, still can command some significant pricing power.
Netflix does a decent job of getting us there, but it won’t catch you up to absolute current. So, the best that you can do (for example) of Friday Night Lights are seasons 1, 2, and 3. Season 4 has been shown and is now in repeats, but you can’t get it from Netflix. You can get Hulu’s current window, but that would miss season 4, episodes 1-5. And no legal way to get those episodes except purchase by Amazon.
This has happened to us several times, where you can’t quite get caught up to the current production.
There are two things that I’d like to see to alleviate this problem: (1) Amazon have some decent RENTAL pricing on television shows, or (2) Netflix get these shows faster.