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General discussion

Internet TV.

Jan 31, 2006 9:14PM PST

Hey,

I love the fact that we are increasingly able to watch TV on demand over the Internet.

Tom mentioned the It Crowd from Chanel 4 the other day (great show, funny) - but the UK has other shows online too. The Mighty Boosh, Nighty Night and others from the BBC are finding premieres on streaming videos online.

The BBC is developing the iMP player - to download and play Free TV shows up to 1 week after they air, and on January 10th, Sky TV (Fox's sister network in the UK) launched SkyByBroadband - a service that lets you download and watch movies from a library of 200,for free.

SkyByBroadband just requires you to already be a Sky TV subscriber.

With the success of iTunes TV shows, it once again TV makers are being shown the way forward. Allow cheap or free easy access to your shows, and people will come in their droves.

Sadly we are still in a situation where the only way for UK fans of shows like LOST are able to see the latest series are either to wait a year, for Chanel 4 to show it, or to download it from the newsgroups or Bit Torrent.

It totally rocks that we are at the start of a revolution!!

Discussion is locked

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how it will affect ratings
Feb 1, 2006 3:50AM PST

What I want to see is this: suppose, instead of the current way we watch TV, you could, say on Sunday night, pick any of the new episodes that would air for the whole upcoming week, and download them and watch them on your time. If you wanted to watch ER on Sunday, you could. If you wanted to watch Smallville and Survior (which air at the same time) you wouldn't have to choose which one, you could watch them both.

I, personally, really hate the way the networks re-arrange the schedules. Sometimes they really kill good shows by moving them to a different time slot every couple of weeks, or just putting them on at an inconvenient time. I'd like to see what would happen to ratings if time slots were not a factor, if we could each choose our own unique time that we would watch a show, maybe even different for different weeks. Wouldn't that be interesting?

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Youc an do that now
Feb 1, 2006 5:34AM PST

Sort of, with a TiVo, a slingbox. or a bunch of other devices. In fact, I'm planning on quoting your plea in the intro to tomorrow's Digital Dispatch newsletter (if that's OK). Here's what I wrote:

Recently on the CNET forums, one of the listeners to our podcast, Buzz Out Loud, was bemoaning the idiocy of TV networks putting her favorite shows on at the same time. She imagined a world where people could watch shows whenever they wanted. "If you wanted to watch Smallville and Survior (which air at the same time) you wouldn't have to choose which one, you could watch them both," cried beelissa. Well I sort of live in that world now, with a dual-tuner DirecTV TiVo. And you can be there too. Whether you want to watch your home TV on your laptop, use a TiVo, or take your shows with you on the bus, we've rounded up the best ways to watch what you want, anywhere, anytime.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6255653-1.html

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just now saw this message
Feb 11, 2006 8:18AM PST

Tom, I just saw this message. Did you change what you wrote because I didn't reply? It was fine if you put that in, I'm flattered.

Well, I have a DVR, too, and I do very much use it to watch TV on my time. But, as I understand it, the TV ratings that everyone seems to talk about are based on who watches the shows when their actually aired, right? What I was wanting to see was a world where we could all really choose what to watch when, and the data could be collected and published. We could find out if more people really watch TV at 10 p.m. on Thursday night, for instance. And we could find out which of the shows was watched by the most people, for the whole week, without the time slot mattering at all. A show could develop a following a lot quicker without viewers having to find it when it moves to a new time slot. And We'd have a truer idea of which was the number one show, and which were the duds, based solely on haw many people chose to sit through it, not because they were just waiting for ER to come on, but because they really wanted to be watching that show at that time on TV.

That's what I want. Not merely the convenience for myself, the the proof, so the network execs can see it, about which shows are good, without them being able to play their rearrange the time slots shell game. It makes me crazy sometimes when they take a really good show and move it around so many times no one can find it to watch it.

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Seriously
Feb 11, 2006 10:51AM PST

The idea that time slot is important is fast becoming obsolete. I can't tell you how many shows I watch that ar eon at the same time. In the old world I wouldn't watch one of them, but now I get both.

Yes I used your idea in the Dialy Dispatch back on that day. Thanks for the inspiration!

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I guess I want it to hurry up and become obsolete already :)
Feb 12, 2006 4:57AM PST

Right now, it's only obsolete for those of us who have TiVo or some kind of DVR. Most people I know, don't. TiVo isn't big out in the "boonies" -- by that I really mean, anywhere that isn't a really big urban area. And thought the cable company has DVRs, I think a lot of people are put off by the extra monthly fee. I realized it was worth it the first time I could say to one of my kids, "Record it!" when they wanted to watch a TV show that was on when they needed to be doing something else.

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Can't watch IT Crowd
Feb 10, 2006 6:35AM PST

It looks like they are blocking non US users from viewing the IT Crowd. Anyone know a way around this?

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I wouldn't know
Feb 10, 2006 7:47AM PST

But I've heard you can get the episodes on thepiratebay. Just saying what I heard on boing boing. Doubt it's legal but that's just what I heard. Yep, just heard about it.

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Ah yes!
Feb 10, 2006 6:04PM PST

Thank you acedtect. I think I will go hear about it as well. I meant to say non UK users by the way.

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IT Crowd
Feb 13, 2006 2:01AM PST

There are direct links on digg that can bypass the ip filter, but you can also use a proxy in the UK to download as well.

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I love the IT crowd
Feb 13, 2006 2:31AM PST

This is a great show. Very British and very funny. I look forward to more episodes.