August 31, 2007

While Apple And NBC Squabble Like Girls In A Schoolyard, BitTorrent Keeps On Rolling

Duncan Riley

54 comments »

NBC Dumps iTunes! Apple Dumps NBC! What ever the headline, one thing is sure: by making it even more difficult to obtain affordable, legal downloads of TV shows, more and more people will be turning to Bit Torrent. In Apple’s case, it’s not really their problem, but with NBC you really have to question the business sense of a company that states it is concerned about piracy, then makes the legal alternative more difficult to come by.

As demonstrated in the image below, NBC shows are in plentiful supply on BitTorrent. I’m sure users will welcome the flood of additional downloaders. NBC shows available via BitTorrent include Scrubs, ER, My Name Is Earl, Heroes and just about everything else.

Sphere It

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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NRKbeta

September 1st, 2007 at 6:18 am

我挖网(digbuzz.com)

September 1st, 2007 at 6:22 pm

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B S meter

August 31st, 2007 at 11:18 pm

http://www.thepiratebay.org rocks!
Terra Andersen

August 31st, 2007 at 11:19 pm

I think most NBC shows were obtained by other means anyhow.. but it leaves me wondering…
B S meter

August 31st, 2007 at 11:22 pm

looks like even Apple is powerless to stop the pirate bay..

http://static.thepiratebay.org/apple_response.txt

classic!
skoober

September 1st, 2007 at 12:16 am

@BSMETER
Dewd… ure not eve talkin sense. Ur on some kind of wine binge.
Taryn

September 1st, 2007 at 1:00 am

…*girls* in a schoolyard.
Ryan Merket

September 1st, 2007 at 1:48 am

yeah, we know how to pirate too.
Derrick

September 1st, 2007 at 3:08 am

Doesn’t NBC stream their shows on their website?
Matt

September 1st, 2007 at 5:14 am

Yes, most of the major networks stream their shows now. I love that idea, because I don’t have to take the time to think about finding and downloading a torrent. I just hook up the laptop to the tv and watch it. I’ve been doing that with Jericho on another network. Comedy Central has videos you can embed in other sites too.
electroblog

September 1st, 2007 at 5:42 am

Really Doesn’t NBC stream their shows on their website? ?
Steve Ballmer

September 1st, 2007 at 6:30 am

lol, I love your title, I can picture the cat-fight, hehehe.

BTW
Buy a Zune people, they come in a cool brown and can squirt!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Yezidi

September 1st, 2007 at 7:00 am

I think “jews” in a schoolyard would have been better.
Garth

September 1st, 2007 at 7:55 am

Torrent Spy is no longer available to US IP addresses, and comcast has managed to stop a lot of bit torrent traffic on their network.
techmine

September 1st, 2007 at 8:07 am

Very appropriate post. The phenomena of legal downloads onto various devices (over the internet) has just started and look what they are doing…I side by apple’s decision to sideline NBC.
Amy Wilsch

September 1st, 2007 at 8:44 am

girls in a schoolyard?
Paul

September 1st, 2007 at 9:14 am

NBC only streams full episodes for a few of its shows.

I recall that The Office is not streamed in full, and only has “2 minute replays” online (for now… perhaps that will be changing?)
David Litsky

September 1st, 2007 at 9:19 am

Is NBC involved with Joost?
Mike Cane

September 1st, 2007 at 9:33 am

Oh. The irony!

A Post-iTunes Fable For NBC
Someones Ex Girlfriend

September 1st, 2007 at 9:40 am

If NBC is going to charge $4.99 per episode, that shit better be in its full HDTV glory.
Sprezzatura

September 1st, 2007 at 10:15 am

Great post, but what’s with the gratuitous sexism in the title?
hunh

September 1st, 2007 at 10:30 am

NBC makes a lot of their programming freely available on their website. Perhaps they have plans to let people download it…
Rae

September 1st, 2007 at 10:31 am

OMGZ HE SAID GIRLZ HOW SEXIST!
Regular Reader

September 1st, 2007 at 10:39 am

The title wouldn’t be so newsworthy if it weren’t for:
1. boys on the playground sounds just as good
2. techcrunch recently made fun of knitting as a topic for a community (that was aready doing very well)
3. techcrunch refused to write a review of damselsinsuccess because it is for women
4. techcrunch lost it’s female writer becuase the community was so rotten to her
randy

September 1st, 2007 at 10:44 am

The fact that “Earl”, “Scrubs,” and “HEROES” are the only shows that struggling network has got right now should be WAY more worrisome to NBC execs than some frivolous website partnership.
Miki

September 1st, 2007 at 10:48 am

Seems like bit torrent is now hitting its stride.
Matthew

September 1st, 2007 at 10:50 am

I love NBC shows. They are great.
MrObvious

September 1st, 2007 at 11:11 am

Isn’t it fairly obvious that NBC will be opening its own online video store in order to not share profits with Apple?
Richard

September 1st, 2007 at 11:13 am

Hi Mike,

You should see Divinity metrics that provides metrics to content providers and advertisers on several platforms including p2p..

They have recently launched YouTube metrics also and I think their service is very cool…

Peace..

Richard
Amy Wilsch

September 1st, 2007 at 11:34 am

I wouldn’t pay $5 for a TV show when I can get it for free on TiVo and watch on my huge HDTV (not a 1″ ipod screen). And certainly not for most of the crap the major TV stations put out these days. The only TV shows I watch more than once are Walker, Texas Ranger (yes I’m weird).

Rae Rae - “girlz” was not the implication but rather that girls *squabbling* is annoying and therefore by proxy have less aptitude in business. And you knew that.
Aydin Mirzaee

September 1st, 2007 at 11:50 am

hmm… I just wonder how many people who read this blog actually spend time watching NBC shows anyway… aren’t we all just too busy reading our feeds?

Aydin.
Simon Foster

September 1st, 2007 at 12:10 pm

Apple and NBC (and every other media producer) just need to agree to standardize a FREE TV ad supported download model - Apple has access to Googles users data, Google can dynamically insert TV ads, then I download my show with TV ads that work for me. If it were that simple bit torrent stay the choice of nerd minority. Google can broker this and I haev know idea why they haven’t already!

And to anyone who thinks Ads suck - well of course they do for 3 minute youtube videos, and on todays TV too. But when you factor in behavioral relevance, they become entertainment. Sure, some users will skip them but many wont and I bet you Google can use technology to improve that number. TV ads pay for this stuff, always has. There’s a solution here and it requires a little less greed and a little more sense.
Chris

September 1st, 2007 at 1:02 pm

torentspy works fine for me and I’m in the us. Who made up that crap..

# Garth

September 1st, 2007 at 7:55 am

Torrent Spy is no longer available to US IP addresses, and comcast has managed to stop a lot of bit torrent traffic on their network.

maybe its your isp thats blocking it
Your ISP

September 1st, 2007 at 1:37 pm

No One is blocking anything! Open up your ports on your router dummy!
leah

September 1st, 2007 at 1:56 pm

Here’s my comedic take on the Apple/NBC split:
http://www.itgumbo.com/mumbogu.....s_home.php
Ben Nilla

September 1st, 2007 at 2:57 pm

Hi Duncan, Recently came across this link: http://newteevee.com/2007/08/2.....y-metrics/

check it out as it might be relevant to advertisers and media companies.

~Ben
Uncle Paul

September 1st, 2007 at 3:03 pm

An Open Email to NBC Universal

http://www.stonethembas.com
Dominic

September 1st, 2007 at 3:11 pm

DUNCAN DUNCAN DUNCAN

HOW , pray tell, can you equate major corporations negotiating multi million dollar deals to squabbling like school girls? Oh wait, that’s all you Brits think of, young school girls.
Matt_

September 1st, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Simple NBC now has HULU and its distributors and will stream thier shows for free with ads and they wont let you store the full show on your hard drive .

If you want to download those shows to watch offine on a portable device or somewhere you don’t have internet access they will make you pay thru the arse for it without ads (they cant generate a ad campaign for old content ) and wrap it up in some sort of DRM out of the fear that you will put the whole thing up on Bittorrent .
Reg

September 1st, 2007 at 6:35 pm

@Dominic,

It’s a very apt description. Girls tend to use passive aggressive tactics to escalate their disputes.

Spreading innuendo, destroying reputations, attempting to make each other lose friends, rather than more masculine thuggery of acting laying into each with fists.

Issuing press release after press release along the lines of:

“X wouldn’t listen.”
“Y said they wanted more money!”
“Nah er, did not.”
“Did too, you’re just a greedy pig.”
“You’re more greedy. You want all the music AND video.”
“That’s ‘cos everyone loves me. Not even mommy loves you.”
“Take that back!”
“Won’t.”
“You’re not getting my video.”
“Fine.”
“Good.”
“Never speaking to you again.”
“Never speaking to you again first.”
“Fine.”

When the boys get involved, that’s when the lawsuits start flying.

Really, you can pretty much learn everything you need to know about the business world in kindergarten.
mika

September 1st, 2007 at 6:46 pm

#11 Yezidi,

you arab shit. i hope israeli soldiers finish off all you mother fuskers..
Duncan Riley

September 1st, 2007 at 7:24 pm

Regular Reader (comment 22)
We didn’t refuse to write a review of Damsels In Distress at all, I wrote that very review, what I did note at the time though was that being male I probably wasn’t the best judge of the site…and yet I still gave it 4 or 5 paragraphs and a fairly positive review for memory.

Also in terms of knitting: that wasn’t me. As for boys in the playground, they’d use fists, hence the references to girls: the implication is that girls would be more likely to fight with words. I
bob cobb

September 1st, 2007 at 7:30 pm

private torrent sites ftw. Public sites aren’t worth the risk.
David Mackey

September 1st, 2007 at 7:38 pm

$4.99 for an episode is crazy expensive.
steve ballmer

September 1st, 2007 at 8:11 pm

BTW what is a torrent?

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
rodrigo

September 1st, 2007 at 9:28 pm

how stupid is NBC for doing this BEFORE having an alternative in place? if hulu is up and running, taking credit cards and functional then ok… tell apple to take a hike (which is still a stupid thing to do). But doing this MONTHS before an alternative exists is just so stupid.

Zucker has been leading nbc into the toilet for years yet has unexplicably been promoted the worse the network has been doing. I’ll give him one thing… at least he is consistant.
Dominic

September 1st, 2007 at 10:08 pm

Duncan,

Why not just write in a way that makes sense. It’s worse than someone trying to interpret the Bible.
Word Hugger

September 1st, 2007 at 10:57 pm

Long live bittorrent!
Garth

September 2nd, 2007 at 1:00 am

This is what I see if I search on torrent spy

Torrentspy Acts to Protect Privacy
Sorry, but because you are located in the USA you cannot use the search features of the Torrentspy.com website.Torrentspy’s decision to stop accepting US visitors was NOT compelled by any Court but rather an uncertain legal climate in the US regarding user privacy and an apparent tension between US and European Union privacy laws.

We hope you understand and will take the opportunity to visit one of these other fine websites:
Ilan

September 2nd, 2007 at 2:34 am

Tip for NBC: You can’t fight piracy, the right thing for you and other TV stations to do is - put a download section of shows (not streamable) with a 2 minute ad before the show. That would solve the whole case. It’s a win win.
Nemrut

September 2nd, 2007 at 10:07 am

@Reg, lol…this should be in the Techcrunch ‘Coments Hall of Fame’
KirkH

September 2nd, 2007 at 6:24 pm

ITunes should act like a marketplace where merchants can set their prices. If NBC wants to charge $20 per Office episode then why not let them? Nobody would pay that price and it wouldn’t cost Apple much. NBC would lower prices eventually.

Is Apple’s argument that it would be expensive to add the ability to charge variable prices?
Neil J. Squillante

September 2nd, 2007 at 7:30 pm

You used “really” twice in the same sentence. Sorry to quibble, but I hate when I do that myself.
SUMO

September 3rd, 2007 at 8:12 am

http://sumotorrent.com/search/heroes

Torrents rock !