Amazon: Buy – Don’t Rent – 99-Cent Fox, ABC TV Episodes

Credit: Niall Kennedy

Possibly attempting to steal some thunder from Apple’ Wednesday announcement of 99-cent TV episode rentals, rival Amazon.com launched episodes for sale at 99-cents each. The Internet bookseller and Kindle maker said it would offer shows from ABC, Fox and the BBC “to own.”

While Amazon’s Video on Demand service streams such shows as “Glee,” “Bones” and “Lost” to Macs, as well as PCs and set-top boxes, the Seattle-based company noted the shows downloaded “cannot be transferred to iPods.”

Unlike Amazon, Apple’s Wednesday announcement of an updated Apple TV box centered on streaming TV episodes – not downloading – episodes for 99-cents each through iTunes. The shows must be viewed within 30 days and expire after 48 of viewing.

Sony is also preparing a streaming service like Apple, according to reports. Sony will stream music and video using its PlayStation 3 gaming platform, eventually expanding to the company’s other media products, such as Sony Bravia TVs, Sony Ericsson handsets and even the Sony WalkMan, according to the Financial Times.

[AppleInsider]

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Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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http://www.metrokids.ca Vincent C MacIntyre
If I were Apple I would be PISSED. These same companies gave Apple a deal not nearly as good as the one Amazon got. I would definitely feel shafted. Yikes.
Phil
I don’t think Amazon got a better deal. I think they are losing money on each sale (like they do with books).
I also think “own” is misleading. It is a cloud service – your 99¢ allows you to stream whenever you like, but if Amazon goes bye-bye what do you own then? Nothing, cause it is on their servers, not on your HDD
JDS
How many times can you watch a TV show? 2-3-4 – I get sick of them after 2 times if I watch them that many times.
The price at $0.99 is perfect to just watch and not clutter up my hard drive with old shows. Plus with everything from one vendor means if it does not work – it is one neck to choke.
I think that AppleTV is really the first incarnation. The next one to come out in Sept 2010 will be a much better product. But at $99 it is cheap enough that I can buy is every other year.
JDS
Rasi
You can watch all these shows online for FREE! Why pay .99?
Brian
I think this sounds better. If I only have time to watch half today and the other half next Tuesday then that is much more flexible. I like this better than ‘once you buy/start you have 48 hours, then it is gone’. Honestly, who pulls out these odd rules, and from what place do they pull them?
Why can’t it expire once ‘I’ decide I am done watching it. With this method, this becomes more a reality. Maybe I watch it this month and want to show a scene to somebody from it next March?
Amazon stores it, you buy it and watch whenever you want. Sounds good to me.
Kaye
Amazon’s deal sounds better. Here’s what they should have done, just bring all the prices down to 99. ;)
Pauly
Honestly the TV Show aspect of Apple TV isn’t the most exciting part for me. I like where it’s going, but that feature certainly won’t entice me to buy it. Luckily that isn’t the only feature Apple TV offers and the other are attractive.
Besides I could buy from Amazon and then just stream it from my computer to my Apple TV.