NBC to Offer Crappy Windows-Only Downloads of Its Shows

Bill Carter, reporting for The New York Times on NBC’s new plans for “free” TV show downloads:

But the files, which would be downloaded overnight to home computers, would contain commercials that viewers would not be able to skip through. And the file would not be transferable to a disk or to another computer.

I get the feeling NBC would like to force us to watch the commercials Clockwork Orange-style.

The files would degrade after the seven-day period and be unwatchable. “Kind of like ‘Mission: Impossible,’ only I don’t think there would be any explosion and smoke,” Mr. Gaspin said.

This sounds way better than iTunes!

The programs will initially be downloadable only to PCs with the Windows operating system, but NBC said it planned to make the service available to Mac computers and iPods later.

I’m sure NBC has some intern downloading a copy of Xcode as we speak.

★ Thursday, 20 September 2007