Aleksandra Bosnjak
iTunes to provide top US TV programming in the UK
Early this week Apple announced that all top TV soaps including Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy will be available via its UK iTunes download store Apple is charging £1.89 per episode through iTunes UK after signing deals with US TV studios including ABC, Disney Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy. The shows can be viewed on a PC or Mac, through an iPod or on TV using the Apple TV set-top box. They will also be available on Apple's iPhone when it launches in the UK later this year. Comment: Apple's potential 'music-repeat' monopoly in core TV programming could seriously threaten the UK commercial broadcasters' digital strategies and consumer uptake. From an American sitcom studio or a producer's perspective, the rationale behind Apple's success in getting cream TV content rights is in massive growth in online usage and iTunes user base. In addition, top TV producers of these soaps will certainly favour deals with Apple because its digital content distribution monopoly has traditionally excelled in terms of its capacity to efficiently organise the distribution of digital music content in America and globally. So what does this exactly mean for broadcasters such as Channel 4 and Five digital download services, Sky Anytime or second show runs in the UK? It clearly forces them to understand better the unstructured world of digital content windows and catch-up TV programming, as well as the monetization of digital content; in media terms it means multiple runs of top shows across various platforms. In very basic rights terms, typical content windows refer to the following: platform, duration, runs (i.e. timings on the first/second run) and linear or on-demand digital rights. So factors that broadcasters have to consider when evaluating the positioning of their second run against the UK Apple iTunes TV offer move are:-
If Apple is providing full-scale flexibility with regard to its shows distribution (i.e. no limitations in terms of windows, platforms, runs and duration), then the future performance of the UK broadcasters digital services is in serious danger. As a potential threat of losing these 'new digital' download services, Channel 4 and Five may be forced to consider a completely new, different business model, possibly even a free one.
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Under the more optimistic scenario, where Apple does have content and windows timing restrictions on all or a set of TV series, UK digital players will still have to re-position its strategy.
