New tools allow viewers to create 'my TV' schedules
By LAURA PETRECCA
USA Today
It's increasingly a have-it-your-way world. People create their music playlists via iTunes, design their backpacks at L.L. Bean, even order personal sayings on their M&Ms. And those who want to create their TV schedules are getting their wish.
As the 2006-07 season gets under way, they are getting a range of new tools along with greater availability of DVRs.
"Prime time is becoming my time," says Gordy Abel, VP of marketing for digital-focused agency Carat Fusion. "Back in the day, consumers were very much beholden to the appointment TV that networks created. Now the days of appointment TV are limited."
Helping viewers create "my TV":
NBC will stream full episodes of all of its new fall prime-time shows free on NBC.com after they initially air. ABC will sell $1.99 downloads of "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives" on iTunes the day after airing and stream at least seven shows on ABC.com. Fox will offer select shows for a limited time on its Web site and at portals such as Google Video. CBS will stream every episode of this season's "Jericho" and "Survivor: Cook Islands" on its Web channel Innertube.
Such viewing will no longer be limited to small screens: New devices allow users to view shows bought online on their TVs. For instance, Apple's iTV will let fans who download a "Lost "episode from iTunes watch it on their TV.
NBC will have shows such as "The Office" and "Friday Night Lights" available on Comcast and Cablevision for about 99 cents and 95 cents, respectively.
The bet by the networks with all these options is that more consumer exposure to a show will build its audience and ad sales. "Once you open a pipeline up, you get increased consumption," says Albert Cheng, Disney's ABC group head of digital media.
They also hope alternative distribution will offer its own ad sales opportunities. NBC, ABC and CBS are selling ads separately for their streaming video. In a test streaming of three shows last spring, ABC signed 10 major advertisers.
"Consumers are in control," says Joe Mandese, editor of online and print trade publication MediaPost. "If you don't give them what they want, they're going to go somewhere else."
