Subscription TV In My Pocket

Apple is bringing more content to the iTunes TV Show listings, which is a good thing for consumers. At the same time, ala carte television subscriptions suck. Subscribe me to a show for the year at a reduced rate. $10 for a season of Lost or Monk or Desperate Housewives sounds about right. If I only want one episode, $1.99 is fair because you can't plan for that. If I sign up before the season starts, the studio gets real data about how many people are tuning in, which they can take to product placement marketers and the bean counters to get more or less money for effects and the writers that make a show worth watching (unless they get the fans to do it). No more flawed Nielsen ratings dictating a show's lifespan.

Give me the show via syndicated subscription so I don't need to actively download it. Put yesterday's episode of Battlestar Galactica on my desktop today. That keeps the networks happy because you didn't steal their timeslot. I was recording the show and watching it on my time anyway, why fight me? Apple's headed in the right direction, but I'm not convinced the iPod Video is the right form factor for portable video. I want a small version of my HDTV that fits in my pocket. Microsoft and all it's Windows Media DRM licensees have a market opportunity here. They support subscription content already. Make TV shows available on the PSP. Make TV shows available on the Zen Vision and I'll pay for the convenience. Become the cable company on demand service, only put on demand in my pocket. That's easily worth $40 monthly. All the television shows I can eat, in my pocket, on demand. Subscribe me to my favorites, offer me a million downloads I never wanted. Where do I sign up? If there's one thing I'd want to see at the Bill Gates keynote at CES, it's Bill announcing Microsoft final getting the importance of video content subscription. Yeah, they've got the MSN Video stuff, but compared to the selection at iTunes, they've got nothing. And I want a PSP not a PMC.

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