Apple recently denote that it had sell more than one million videos on the iTunes Music Store ( iTMS ) in less than twenty days . Considering the limited video content that ’s uncommitted — presently there are only five different boob tube shows for cut-rate sale and just over 2,000 euphony video recording — combined with the limited accessibility of the new iPod with video capabilities , those seem to be pretty good bit .
Apple is staying mum on the pct of music videos to TV show and short film it has sold . Nor will it unwrap whether more show are on the way of life . Yet if recent history is any reading , the shows currently on offer at the iTMS are just the showtime . But strong sales should spur networks to commence offer more capacity on an on - requirement basis .
“ This is a fresh form of dispersion that offers incremental receipts and does n’t compete powerfully with videodisc cut-rate sale , ” Ross Rubin , managing director of industry psychoanalysis at NPD Techworld , told Playlist . “ Networks and studios are learning to consider of goggle box more as a commercial product than transitory entertainment . ”
before long after Apple released iTunes 4.9 with podcast subscription features , the major networks and mainstream mediarushed to start podcast content on the iTMS . Despite the fact that podcasting had been around for quite some time , it took Apple ’s entry into the field of study and promotion of the medium via its omnipresent iTunes player to get the musket ball rolling . likewise , though neither vodcasting ( picture podcasting ) nor video - on - requirement are new , Apple ’s embrace of these engineering , peculiarly its inclusion of the latter in iTunes 6 , has bring both to the mainstream for the first time .
Yet unlike the rush into podcasting , major broadcaster seem to be only tardily , and quite guardedly , entering this market . The telly render for cut-rate sale on the iTMS today are the very same ones available when Apple launched iTunes 6 , albeit with more episode . And for now , at least , the Disney - ABC Television Group look like the only biz in town . None of the networks Playlist talk with revealed any near - term plans to propose video contentedness via the iTMS .
While CBS offers legion podcasts — such as highlights from several of its news program program , including60 MinutesandFace the Nation , as well as pop soap opera fare likeGuiding Light — the Tiffany web was quiet on any plans to add appearance to the iTMS , noting only that it is in talks with a variety of player and that any announcements on video plans would come on their own .
“ We ’re go to announceCSItomorrow at 4 PM , ” joke CBS voice Dana McClintock , noting he was being factitious . “ manifestly the specific are n’t something we ’d denote in an clause about the thousandth or one-millionth or gazillionth telecasting or whatever it is that ABC or Apple is claiming . But I would be able to tell you that we are in a number of discussion with a number of player about offering our content for download or swarm . ”
Likewise MSNBC , which podcasts several of its pop programme includingCountdown with Keith OlbermannandHardball with Chris Matthewsnoted that it would not have video for sale any time shortly .
“ We do n’t have plan [ to sell TV on the iTMS ] right now , ” MSNBC spokesperson Ann Keegan told Playlist . “ It ’s something we might pick up and run with in the future , but right now it ’s not even on our radar . ”
One connection that is go towards offering more video via the Internet , if not the iTMS , is Comedy Central , which just launched a new broadband content web site this calendar week calledMotherLoad . The situation will offer high spot from its on - air programming , such as expanded interview fromThe Daily Show , as well as original online - only content . However , so as to reach the content , users must have Pentium III or better personal computer run Windows XP or 2000 / SP4 . Mac users are left out of the pic , at least for now . Yet Comedy Central expressed guarded optimism that it might make some of its content available on the iTMS in the futurity .
“ It ’s unquestionably something that we ’re looking into . We would like to make something available [ via iTunes ] , ” says Comedy key media representative Aileen Budow . “ But we do n’t have any plan correctly now . ”
all the same , Apple observe its secrets quite well — were you expecting a second all - unexampled iPod to arrive a month after the first ? And networks , as CBS ’ McClintock points out , like to make a splash and generate as much publicity as potential when announcing something newfangled . So although no - one will go on record with plans today , tomorrow is always another day .
