HBO will sell “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Deadwood” and “Rome,” “Flight of the Conchords” and “The Wire,” among others, on the iTunes store. All 94 episodes of “Sex in the City” will be available (a mere $187 for the whole run!) at $1.99 each while more popular shows like the “Sopranos” and “Deadwood” will cost $2.99.
HBO is also trying to sell its content on a website called HBO on Broadband. However, this move monetizes the service completely, allowing even non-subscribers access to HBO content.
Would you guys ever buy an entire season? An entire run? Who would do such a thing?
HBO & Apple Bring Critically Acclaimed Television Programming to the iTunes Store
Favorites Including “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City” Now Available on iTunesNEW YORK and CUPERTINO, California—May 13, 2008—HBO and Apple® today announced that programming from HBO is now available for purchase and download on the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com). New HBO programs on iTunes include the Emmy Award-winning programs “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Deadwood” and “Rome,” as well as the critically acclaimed hits “Flight of the Conchords” and “The Wire.” The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online TV store with over 150 million episodes sold and features the world’s largest catalog with over 800 shows (over 20,000 episodes).
“We’re very excited to make these legendary HBO programs available on the iTunes Store,” said Henry McGee, president of HBO Video. “Whether catching up on ‘Sex and the City’ in anticipation of its upcoming movie release or reliving a favorite ‘Sopranos’ episode, we think viewers will love being able to watch these shows on their iPod or iPhone.”
“We’re thrilled to bring this incredible lineup of programming from HBO to the iTunes Store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “These are some of the most talked about television shows ever, as well as some of the most requested by our customers.”
“Sex and the City: The Movie” premieres in theaters on May 30, and in preparation for the movie’s debut, fans can choose any or all 94 episodes from the entire six seasons of the program.
Television shows purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac® or PC, iPod® nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone™ or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®. “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “Flight of the Conchords” are $1.99 per episode, and “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome” are priced at $2.99 per episode. iTunes customers can also choose to purchase entire seasons of their favorite programs.
Um, hello … Entourage? Why in the world wouldn’t they sell Entourage?!
Back to your question, no, for $2.99 an episode or even $1.99 an episode I would not. With an average of 12 eps that’s $25 or so for files that I really can’t do much with.
If there was a way I could pay maybe $15 and get the whole season in files that I could put on DVD and take to a friends, or put on my mobile player (not iPod), or generally move them around as I see fit … that would be worth it. I’d even pay $20 for a show with 20 or so episodes per season like Battlestar Galactica.
Otherwise, I’m not interested in breaking the bank for files that I’ll likely watch once and delete. I only pay 99 cents for music files that I’ll listen to hundreds of times.
It will be interesting to see how older content like The Wire and Sopranos perform for sale on iTunes. I imagine new episodes of current content should be sold day after on itunes and older content streamed with ads on HBO. Who wants to buy season 3, episode 2 of Sopranos?
@Martin – I agree. In this format, I don’t see the use in buying older copies. If I want to buy season 2 of Sopranos to keep, I’ll likely buy it on DVD. Or if I’m just now catching up to season 2 I would probably rent the DVDs on Netflix – a much more cost effective way to watch past seasons of shows.
If I want to watch the current season and don’t have HBO or have HBO but don’t have a TiVo, I can definitely see paying for digital downloads – at the right price. And the right price for me is probably 50 cents. Maybe 99 cents for an HBO show since it would save me the monthly premium channel cable cost.
This is brilliant. Just downloaded the complete Season 2 for the “The Wire”.
Why?
Because I don’t have HBO
I don’t have access to cable
I spend less than $100 a year on TV content
I don’t have a Region 1 DVD player
And shows like the “The Wire” don’t show up in the local bins
Can’t wait for Seasons 3-5 to be released