SyncTV from electronics maker Pioneer will launch in private beta Monday with a service that promises to deliver ala carte television viewing by allows users to download content from channels and subscribe only to channels they are interested in.
The service will charge between $2 to $4 per month per channel with individual shows (we presume from unsubscribed channels) offered at $2 per episode.
The service will be initially computer only, with support for Windows and Macs, with the Marlin digital rights management system in place to stop programs being copied and played elsewhere. SyncTV is currently in talks with set-top box manufacturers and may even be offered with television sets themselves at a later date. Sync TV downloads will not be compatible with iPods, but will be “available on as-yet-unavailable portable devices.” Programs will be offered in “home-theater quality” (DVD quality) with some programming in HD.
The service will be available to the public from January 2008.
(via Reuters)
cool.
Sounds like another doomed to failure project to me!
Only Microsoft can do this right!
All of these efforts are so annoying because they miss the one thing I want to do: share TV programs with friends. Case in point: I watch Survivor with my friends, but because they have kids to put to bed, they use their DVR to record Survivor and we start watching it about halfway through. We also want to watch The Office. Before NBC and Apple had their tiff, I’d just buy the episodes off iTunes and bring them to my friends on my iPod. It worked great. Now I can’t do that.
This service is the same. I can download content, but only play it on the special computer player. Doesn’t help me at all. I used to transfer shows from my ReplayTV to my PC and burn on DVDs, but that process takes longer than I’m willing to invest now.
It’s too bad the networks don’t realize that sharing content this way can actually increase viewership. I think my friends would like some new show, so I download it and watch it with them. Maybe they like it and start watching it.
Screw the cable companies, screw the satellite companies. Just download your tv shows and burn em, much faster, much more universally accessible (cross-platform, etc.) It’s really not worth the $100+ a month to pay for tv programming anymore, on top of paying for broadband, and telephone, and cellular, etc.
All of these media need to converge, and the Internet seems to be the ideal place for it.
Now tv stations & broadcasters need to get savvy and just start offering their shows for free download, and totally by-pass the cable/satellite middlemen.
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