Dean reminds us that the first episode of the second season will be shown in less than 24 hours...
Just lemme know where the torrents are. :)
You know, this show could be the Itunes of television. Me, I'm not going to fork out $40/month to see that one show -there's not that much on cable I want to see-, but I'd still love to watch Battlestar Galactica.
I certainly wouldn't mind forking over a couple bucks to pick up a digital capture of a given episode.
So why not graduated downloads? Say $2 or $3 for a good quality digital TV recording, $5 for same with Dolby Digital, and maybe $8-$10 for HDTV w/5.1 sound?
The trick would be limiting this to paid-for downloads, but that's addressable.
Let's look at costs. I pay $7.50/month for 7000MB bandwidth. (Verve Hosting. Excellent service. HIGHLY recommended!!) At that cost I could afford to allow 10 downloads of a 700Mb episode, and that's very high quality. I've seen some (approx.) 350Mb episodes which are still good quality. In other words, a very high quality download (700Mb video file, AKA a single VCD disc) would be $0.75 cents a download, using my current, individual user plan.
So let's call it 20 downloads/month for $7.50, for the bandwidth. "Production" cost in this case is 20 downloads divided by $7.50/month, which gives 37.5 cents per episode downloaded. And that's using an el cheapo "bargain" plan.
Verve Hosting (my ISP) offers 35GB/month for $45/month. That means (roughly) 140 downloads for $45 server cost. In other words, $0.33 cents per download.
These are all end-user prices. I don't doubt that an industrial-strength server contract would allow greater economies to scale.
Now I'll be the first to admit that these are "back of the envelope" numbers. In this case, I think they're solid enough to conclude that $1/download (given 350Mb/episode) is a reasonable cost estimate.
And, yes, I'm ignoring start-up costs for the hypothetical BSG episode server. :)
But when you get right down to it, how many existing fans would be happy to buy legal copies of the episodes for $2-$3 for a 350Mb vid, or $5-$6 for an HQ copy (~ 700Mb)?
Me, I'd certainly go for the 350Mb stuff, and I'd look very favorably at a $5 cost for the HQ stuff, especially if it meant continued existance for the show.
In other words: forget the letter-writing campaigns, here's how real fans show their support. With money.
Even if the studio doesn't have a direct-to-DV machine on-hand, all you need is an HQ digital feed, and a digital video recorder. And how inexpensive is that? After that all they need is to distribute the copy to paying customers.
One way to discourage piracy would be distributing (via BitTorrent) encrypted ARJ or ZIP files. The password could be created for that account, then encrypted on the fly. Anyone in the world could distribute that encrypted ARJ or ZIP file, but you'd need the password to open it.
No, this wouldn't eliminate piracy, but it would discourage it; especially when you consider that most black markets historically exist when "offical" market prices do not match actual market prices. In other words, when the asking price is in excess of the selling price.
But -you ask me- where are the actual data to support this claim? Aren't all music/video dowloaders a guild of thieves?
Good question! Good answer? Look at success of Itunes. Before Apple started that company, no one believed you could sell songs for $1 a pop, and still make money off of the transaction. Itunes is now one of Apple's strongest revenue sources.
Itunes is why I believe most people are willing to spend money on TV shows. I repeat: Ituens is now one of Apple's strongest revenue sources. In other words, people all over the world are willing to pay for legal copies of songs, even though they could get those same songs for free, given current pirating & distribution.
Given that, I'm betting that people will be willing to pay for legal copies of TV shows, even though they could get those same shows for free, given current pirating & distribution.
I can't tell you how much it costs to produce a single episode of Battlestar Galactica, but I'll bet it's in the range of millions of dollars, minimum.
So how much more would it cost for the company to set up a nearly guaranteed source of future revenue (i.e. website dedicated to downloading episodes)? Not much, I'll bet.
Let's let BSG be the new century's Itunes....
Comments (19)
I think it's inevitable that commercial TV will evolve to where you have a multitude of pay options to get it on-demand: low-rez, high-rez, with ads, and without ads. I think eventually most programs will have ALL those options, as well as "one episode" and "complete season" and "complete run."
Posted by Dean Esmay | July 15, 2005 3:06 AM
Posted on July 15, 2005 03:06
Mike, is it something you can talk about? I'm curious to see how someone plans to deal with these issues in a real-life situation.
Posted by Casey Tompkins | July 16, 2005 11:06 PM
Posted on July 16, 2005 23:06
Even though I timeshift view each episode, I would DEFINATELY pay five bucks per episode for an HQ download.
Posted by Thunder Pig | July 24, 2005 5:23 AM
Posted on July 24, 2005 05:23
Wow! This really is a single of the most beneficial blogs We have ever appear across on this subject. Merely Magnificent
Posted by never fail list building bonus | August 21, 2010 5:24 PM
Posted on August 21, 2010 17:24
I am grateful to you for this good content. You truly did make my day :
Posted by never fail list building system review | August 21, 2010 7:11 PM
Posted on August 21, 2010 19:11
Wow! This can be one particular of the most effective blogs I've actually appear throughout on this subject. Merely Amazing
Posted by never fail list building bonus | August 21, 2010 7:12 PM
Posted on August 21, 2010 19:12
Simply awesome, thanks for sharing.
Posted by cable box | August 22, 2010 3:46 PM
Posted on August 22, 2010 15:46
In an effort to battle terrible spamming relating to my website, I could have a modest disclaimer beside the comment box. I probably would make it possible for the weblog readers realise that I really encourage these individuals to showcase their very own internet sites so long as they bring some good quality information related to the posting. I never mind doing work a little bit because it helps to end up getting a respectable link.
Posted by Kristopher Hykes | August 22, 2010 5:13 PM
Posted on August 22, 2010 17:13
Your blog website is very useful. Give thanks to you truly for giving a lot practical information. For certain i will bookmark your post and will be certainly returning. Yet again, I value your work moreover delivering such a lot of useful related information to the many people.
Posted by online payday loans | August 25, 2010 3:06 AM
Posted on August 25, 2010 03:06
Sick! Just got a brand-new Pearl and I can now read your blog on my phone's browser, it didn't work on my old one.
Posted by online conveyancing | August 25, 2010 3:06 PM
Posted on August 25, 2010 15:06
Wicked! Just got a brand-new Pearl and I can read your blog on my phone's browser, it didn't work on my old one.
Posted by online conveyancing | August 25, 2010 3:10 PM
Posted on August 25, 2010 15:10
Where did you get this lovely?
Posted by online conveyancing | August 25, 2010 3:14 PM
Posted on August 25, 2010 15:14
amazing stuff thanx
Posted by make money | August 29, 2010 5:25 AM
Posted on August 29, 2010 05:25
Incredible submit which has received me considering in regards to the possible of the idea. Actually genuinely awesome.
Posted by zero cost commissions | August 29, 2010 5:31 PM
Posted on August 29, 2010 17:31
Incredible publish which has got me considering about the potential of this concept. Actually actually wonderful.
Posted by zero cost commissions | August 29, 2010 5:32 PM
Posted on August 29, 2010 17:32
A actually very good article by you my friend. I've bookmarked this page and will are available back following several days to verify for any new posts that you simply make.
Posted by zero cost commissions | August 29, 2010 5:33 PM
Posted on August 29, 2010 17:33
I can claim, that in all the time I've spent on the net, looking at blogs, I never read one as to the point and well crafted as this one, I do not in general comment on information sites however , for yourself I felt the need to make an exception, this is very decent work and wholly opposite to the drivel, that i spend the majority of my time on-line, reading. Thank you for finding the time and expending your effort to provide your readers with a 1st class posting. I anticipate reading far more of your work, just as before cheers. Deirdre
Posted by Marie Dombroski | August 30, 2010 3:42 PM
Posted on August 30, 2010 15:42
I am really glad to see that you are putting so much of effort for encouraging the readers , Ohhh what do you all think about 3d tv?
Posted by PS4 3d | September 2, 2010 8:21 AM
Posted on September 2, 2010 08:21
Who in God's name thought erecting a mosque at ground zero was the best idea? I'm not really a great fan of both Glen Beck or Sarah Palin yet compared with Obama and his supremely stupid government, this pair are prodigies, come on Usa, there's some unusual stuff going down. Debbie.
Posted by Kisha Sperbeck | September 2, 2010 2:13 PM
Posted on September 2, 2010 14:13