I don’t think Apple’s new TV show rental plan is any great shakes, and neither do the studios not already on board with it. But we have very different reasons for not liking it! They, you see, think charging $1 to watch one half-hour of TV that you can not view again is too cheap and would start them down “the same slippery slope where the music business went.” Ah-whaaaa?
In what world do they live in that charging $23 to watch a full season of The Office without the ability to watch any episode more than once is cheaper than buying a full season on DVD that comes with bonus features and doesn’t disappear into the ether the minute you finish watching it?
Look, if they don’t want to sign on Steve Jobs’ dotted line, I’m not going to argue with them. Steve Jobs is kind of a shitheel, and I wouldn’t trust him with my content either. But to say you’re not signing with Apple because streaming a single episode of TV for $1 is too cheap shows industry leaders are completely overvaluing their content and still have no idea how to deal with the internet.
You don’t want to go down the same road as the music industry? Then stop making the exact same mistakes they did by being way too slow to get their product out there in a reasonable, legal way for people to consume, forcing people to go the route of piracy instead.
