Television - ABC Offers Shows Free Online

millivanilli · 09-27-2006, 02:42 PM

Did yall know that you can watch 8 of ABC shows online for free? THis is great -- love to be able to go back and catch things I did not catch the first time -- especially with LOST.

***Wildfire Girl*** · 09-27-2006, 07:26 PM

I've seen several stations that are allowing free downloads of their shows. But I think the catch is low quality. NBC is doing it for at least the premieres of Heroes, etc.

millivanilli · 09-29-2006, 12:53 PM

yeah, I think it is great. But I have to disagree about the quality -- I watched Greys the other day and was really impressed with the quality. Actually, it looked better than my home tv. Definitely wil be watching the end of last nights Greys -- i missed the last 5 mins -- looking forward to it

UnsilentMajorty · 09-30-2006, 03:05 PM

Networks are doing this because TV is suffering for ratings just like the movies are suffering for box office revenue. People are just not watching as much TV and going to the movies as much as they used to.

The actual reasons are many, but one of the main factors for TV is the internet. Sites like Youtube and others actually are beating multimillion dollar shows as far as a raw number of viewers are concerned in certain cases.

However, the big difference is TV has identified one of the reasons... The internet... And is doing something pro-active about it by using the very medium which it is in direct competition for viewers and using it to draw viewers back to the TV.

Contrast this to the movie side of the entertainment biz who continually pump out (what amounts to) crap and keep blaming everyone else (piracy; actor's high salries; etc.) except themselves.

The current downloadable model is the model the movie side of the biz is going to have to eventually adopt if they really expect to compete with things like video games and DVD sell-thru sales which are movies main competition (along with the internet and high prices)... But don't expect this anytime soon as they will fight-to-the-death and continue to blame piracy and other things in an effort to protect "intellectual property rights" and "Digital Media Rights" (DMR) until they realize NO ONE is going to the movies anymore and they have to change what they are doing, I.E. producing better movies that aren't sequels or films aimed at primarily the 12-18-year old demographic.

The reason I brought all of this up is this is a very interesting and historic time in history as far as TV and the multi-media culture most of us live in and unlike most abstract discussions, you are/can experiencing this first hand if you decide to watch shows on the internet

millivanilli · 10-09-2006, 06:20 PM

Well regardless of the reason, I think it is great that they are offering this -- great for people who have to miss the show and it is free. I definitely will be watching Desperate Houswives this week because because I had a dinner to go to last night...