With Apple TV, Video Podcasts Now Make Sense
OK, so I haven’t been the most vocal supporter of the Apple TV given that (a.) it won’t download movies and TV shows directly from the iTunes Store, which remains a massive oversight IMHO and (b.) it doesn’t serve as a wifi base station on its own, instead requiring that you buy an AirPort base station.
Also, (c.) I don’t have a hi-def TV yet and it seems doubtful that Ms. D is going to let me get one anytime soon. So I’m being a bit snarky, perhaps.
Having said all that, just a few days ago I actually found myself doing something that I may *never* have done before; I watched an entire video podcast. It was an episode of MacBreak starring none other than Leo Laporte. I watched it probably because (a.) I’m utterly in awe of the amazing volume of content Leo Laporte manages to put on the Internet and (b.) because they were talking about the Apple TV, and like a sheep to the sheer, I’m an Apple-anything addict, in spite of myself.
What I’m getting at is it suddenly occurred to me that maybe the Apple TV will make the video podcast concept make a lot more sense. Here’s something that I don’t often find myself doing — watching an entire video podcast on my computer — but I decided to do it at least this once because it was content that I actually wanted to see.
But what if there were more podcast episodes that I wanted to see? And what if people started to produce those shows because they knew that those shows were more likely to be watched now because more people have the means to watch them, easily, on their TVs?
What that could mean is even more diversity in programming than we’re seeing right now on cable. Shows that can’t make it on basic cable can be pushed onto the Internet, perhaps for the cost of a single sponsorship or two. Or subscription. It’ll take more Apple TV models (for instance, models that can access the Internet without requiring a Mac or PC as an intermediary) and further penetration by competitors; it seems highly unlikely that Apple TV will have the same market share that the iPod does.
What I can imagine, though, is someone like Leo Laporte — who in the past would have had to count on a network like TechTV that couldn’t make it on cable and satellite — being able to produce shows that only need to make a few hundred bucks each to be worth doing. I suppose the same would be true of YouTube phenomena like LonelyGirl15. Eventually it might also be the case for shows like Battlestar Galactica or the Onion News Network…if enough people can move them effortlessly from the Internet to their televisions, the show producers could bypass the whole network/cable/satellite thing and just make the shows available. If somehow sponsorship or subscription dollars could be more than the costs to produce it, you’ve got a hit.
Or, maybe if the podcast is popular enough, you could see it for $1 through the…iTunes Store? There’s no way that Apple is angling to be a platform for independent TV and film producers…is there?
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