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August 30, 2007

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Will iTunes UK threaten conventional broadcasting?

Posted Aug. 30, ’07, 8:52 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

uktvshowssmall.jpgOn Tuesday, Apple announced the long-awaited addition of television shows to the UK version of iTunes, making it the first store outside of the US to get that content. And while most of the shows added were American in nature, it’s still led some to speculate that iTunes’s brand and dominance in the music arena might transfer well to video, thus threatening the digital video services being put in place by UK broadcasters.

The Hollywood Reporter advances this theory this morning, with specific attention towards networks Channel 4, Channel Five, and SkyTV, all of which have launched download-to-own services in the recent past. No mention is made of UK television monolith BBC, which launched its own extensive online iPlayer service this year as well—a service that is notably incompatible with Mac OS X.

I do wonder a little about the chances for downloading in the commercial television market in the UK, where broadcasting works somewhat differently from the US. In Great Britain, television broadcasting is funded primarily by a license fee paid on a per household basis. Will UK residents be willing to pay for downloaded television atop the license fee, or will some consider dropping their televisions for exclusively downloaded content? The latter is still a ways off, given the relative paucity of content available in the UK store, but if the US store is any indication, that will quickly change.

UK readers, chime in. Is the availability of television content in iTunes change your plans for viewing? What are your hopes, your fears, your joys, and your sorrows?


5 Comments

Pete White said:

I don't think the price is as bad as the media have been making it out to be compared to the cost of DVD's.

I've written plenty more on my blog about it with some cost comparison against DVD's.

http://imafish.co.uk/blog/post/index/174/itunes-uk-tv-video-price-analysis/

August 30, 2007 9:21 AM
Kris Jones said:

It is not true to say that "In Great Britain, television broadcasting is funded primarily by a license fee paid on a per household basis." The TV Licence Fee only funds the BBC's public service TV and radio services. Other channels, such as the public service Channel 4, are funded by advertising.

Currently the download services launched by UK broadcasters are all incompatible with Macs. It remains to be seen whether the likes of Channel 4 will use iTunes as a means of making shows available to UK Mac users. I don't see that it represents any threat to the services they've already launched. If anything it widens the market. Even if iTunes becomes more popular that broadcasters' own platforms, the broadcaster will still gain a significant slice of the revenue.

The figures quoted by the Hollywood Reporter seem suspect. I cannot see how the market for downloads will grow from £277,000 to £14.8 this year.

One thing is certain, iTunes TV will not become popular in the UK until it carries a significant proportion of UK-produced content. I do hope our broadcasters and Apple are in discussions.

August 30, 2007 10:08 AM
Darren said:

Currently DVD's are convent, simple to use, easy to attach to a TV, offer higher quality, have more features and can be lent to friends and family to have a watch. There are also thousands of programmes available.

For iTunes TV to catch on there need to be downloads of programmes available immediately after broadcast (so that viewers can catch up on their portable devices), programmes from UK TV stations (so there is something a large number of people will want to watch) and high definition (to fill a gaping gap in the market for high def material until the end of HD wars (or possibly making the wars redundant).)

If iTunes can bring these to the table then I might be interested. Until then I'll keep to buying boxed sets of the series I'm interested in.

August 30, 2007 11:31 AM
Stuart Crook said:

I'm not sure about the need for home-grown content for iTunes to take off in the UK. Maybe if the per-episode price drops it could be handy as an occasional time-shift / "whoops, forgot to set the video" service. Most original UK content is free-to-air (BBC, ITV, Channel 4), and these stations are starting to make catch-up services available online, so there is less reason for people to pay for them.

I think that the US content will be more popular, especially if it's released at the same time as it is first broadcast in the States. We tend to get US shows anything up to a couple of years after they're first aired in the US (eg. the BBC is up to about episode 6 of "Heroes") and even then the fragmented nature of the UK TV market means that not everyone who wants to can see them when they are.

There are 4 channels which everyone can get with only a standard TV, plus a fifth which can't be received in certain areas (most of the south coast -- which means I haven't been able to get my "House" fix since moving back down here a year ago). Digital TV costs the price of a cheap decoder box, but again not everyone can get it. And Sky (satellite) ties you in to a 12-month contract at £15 (~$30) per month...

If iTunes can let you choose the few shows you want for less than this a month, I think it will start to grow new market share as an extra, although probably not eat into existing viewing/consumption patterns.


August 30, 2007 11:43 AM
Kelmon said:

I'd be quite prepared to use the service if it provides shows that I want to watch. The current selection is truly pathetic given the length of time that we've been waiting and the total lack of any local content is absolutely mystifying. For me, if Apple is hoping to compete with the likes of the BBC iPlayer then it needs to compete with content and not just US shows that for the most part I don't care about. If we get the US version of The Office rather than the original then I swear I'm going to go bezerk...

I'm honestly glad that the service has at least launched but what were they doing for 2-years?

August 30, 2007 12:59 PM

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