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Comment by teilo | Hacker News Reader

As far as I'm concerned, the only way that the new iTV is going to "change everything" is if it somehow gives you the ability to watch any episode of any show at any time, streaming, ad and hassle free. THAT I would pay for.

But giving the networks the ability to require an app as a gateway to their programming? Sorry, but that just an invitation for abuse, and begging for new ways to shove ads down our throats. Think javascript popover ads are annoying when browsing the web? The networks already abuse the screen real estate when you are just trying to enjoy a program. Imagine if they could do this in an app instead...

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After reading Kevin Rose's post, I started to think about this and realized that another thing where the app model would not be great is that in the end, nobody cares what network a program is on. The only thing that matters is the list of programs you like and want to watch.

A user would want to see an aggregate of all the programs s/he likes, not go to one app to see what's new on ABC, and another for NBC… that's where the Google TV model is interesting I suppose.

I'd think that something more like Google Reader (conceptually, not in terms of UI obviously) might be more fitting: a bunch of feeds for shows you like. You can "star" the ones you'll always want to keep around, let others disappear if too old…

To be YC-centric, it seems that the recently-launched Teevox got that right by merging listings between Netflix and Hulu.

Agreed. That all three current Law and Order series are being shown on some combination of three different cable channels, and in syndication locally, shows that the network brand doesn't matter on a per-show basis.

In fact, if it did, syndication wouldn't be successful at all. But we all still seem to be watching Cheers and Seinfeld.

Boxee does a good job with that. They've got apps with mostly map back to a particular website they're getting their streaming video from, but for TV shows and TV show like content, all the titles show up in a list of all TV shows. You can search and sort the list, or you can mark a particular series to be part of your "queue". Then new episodes of that series will always automatically appear in your "queue".

I watched Mad Men tonight and about to catch up on Entourage. Both shows have a ridiculous amount of product placement. But the product placement works in the context of both those shows.

The game changer would be interactive iAds for each product placement.

I always thought about a Google-esque Adwords style bidding for product placement and localizations.

For instance, a local advertiser would be able to advertise on their local broadcast version of a tv show using CG. The local advertiser can have his/her product or logo place somewhre within the context of the tv show.

Also, this can work with larger companies. Instead of Coke or Pepsi being used by an actor, the soda can can be CG'ed, and the respective company would bid on the placement by locality (city, state, region, etc).

This would allow smaller mom & pop brands a chance to advertise within their locality.

Not sure what would happen when a show goes into syndication, though. I guess, sell new CG advertising.

Sounds better then having to pay $70 a month for cable TV. When I had cable TV I never watched the majority of the channels they pushed on me.

And yet the $70 a month you spent was funding shows like Mad Men. Advertising is such a small part of revenues but since it's the only side the consumer sees (well, DVD sales) we see these things as game changers. The real problem to solve here is that of affiliate fees[1]. Without cable fees it's a pretty safe bet that quality programming like Mad Men wouldn't be around. Maybe we're moving that way anyway where all that's available are cheap web series, but it'd be a bummer in my opinion.

[1]http://abovethecrowd.com/2010/04/28/affiliate-fees-make-the-...

Well I pay $10 or more to go see a quality movie. I make the choice to go out, choose the movie I want to see and pay the cost. Cable TV does not offer me this and as like Blockbuster being killed by Netflix(crazy late fees consumers hated), such will be the downfall to their locked in shackles business model consumers loathe.

Quality programs can still be made and just like movies consumers will pay to watch them. Also look at the DVD market it was huge; ppl payed 15 bucks per DVD.

Sounds like you have a personal investment and or making your money off the cable pig that needs to be slayed. If your here reading HN then think out of the box to increase ur profit and solve the problem of the cable pig!

Why would an app they control be any worse than what the networks are doing now, or what Hulu does?

How about forcing you to interact with the ad before you are allowed to move on to the show?

Possible, perhaps encouraged by iAds, but it's not like they couldn't do that with Hulu.

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