[Bill M]

Shows like Desperate Housewives and Lost will be soon offered online for free, albeit supported by advertisers in some way. I think this is an interesting development. How will this impact current and future TV shows on iTunes?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191145,00.html

[Frank777]

I'm more interested in finding out what format they're going with.

MPEG4, WMP, Real or something else?

The IPTV has apparently arrived. Now this is going to be fun.

[Kickaha]

Flash 8. Streaming only, no download or storage.

Dunno what codec within the Flash.

[Luca]

Hell, I hardly ever watch TV episodes or movies more than once. I'll gladly put up with ads if I can also watch the shows for free. It's not worth $2 to download an episode if I can stream them for free.

[shell]

Was this one Job's idea? It seems like something he would do, i.e. bring some fresh thinking to the way that Disney does business.

[Luca]

I doubt Steve Jobs would come up with a plan for Disney to offer a product for free that his main company, Apple, is trying to sell for a profit.

[turbulentfurball]

Indeed. A classic example of the proverbial shooting one's self in the foot.

I very much doubt that Steve Jobs wanted this to happen at all.

Edit: Will these shows be available worldwide?

[Luca]

Oh and another thing, just because Disney bought Pixar doesn't mean that every Disney decision that is even remotely related to computers was made by Jobs. I doubt he has any real power in Disney's decision-making process, and in fact he probably lost a great deal of power within Pixar after Disney bought them. He's an executive, not a superhero.

[shell]

Well, he has the same power that any primary shareholder who still has far less than 51% would have. Ultimately, this move does benefit Apple, as people get used to getting their TV online and not from the cables companies or over the air. Besides, does Apple make money from selling video? I thought that like music, the whole point was to sell iPods, with the copntent owners making the real money off those sales. Incidently, this plan has probably been in the works for months if not years, it probably predated Job's tenure, I just thought the connection was interesting.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by shell Besides, does Apple make money from selling video? I thought that like music, the whole point was to sell iPods, with the copntent owners making the real money off those sales.

Correct. Even if Apple just breaks even on video sales, Apple still profits from the sale of video iPods.

These non-downloable videos cannot be transferred to iPods, though. Thus, it's still very unlikely Jobs had anything to do with it.