NBC's foolishness

Even as The Office was struggling with disappointing ratings on television, they were dominating sales on Apple's ITunes marketplace. Among some of the trendiest, most gadget hungry youngsters on the planet, The Office was dominating and those who weren't queing up to buy the episodes on a week by week or season pass basis were at least seeing The Office displayed prominently on the ITunes front page as the hottest thing on the site. Nothing but free advertising to one of the world's most sought after demographics. Some of these people actually spent $600 on IPhones.

From a commerce perspective, NBC was raking in thousands in instant sales. No waiting for the season to end and the next one to begin to realize their DVD bonanza. No production charges, no disks to burn, no packages to print, wrap and ship. From an environmental perspective, it was perfect. Tons of petroleum not used in packaging and shipping and nothing for the landfill.

Furthermore, the fans of The Office were flocking to NBC's website. NBC encouraged interaction with office drones across the nation. The Office has a fan base so dedicated that they are actually going to a convention in Scranton. Scranton! Have you been to Scranton? I have. It's not pretty.

NBC seemed to be nurturing this online community. Advertising special content of webisodes, deleted scenes and interviews in character and out. One painfully ironic extra featured director Josh Weldon confessing his fandom and his approach to directing an episode. Weldon then begins to discuss his addiction to watching the show on his Ipod.

So what does NBC in their infinite wisdom do? Discontinues the sales of The Office on ITunes. You can watch the episodes for free for a short period of time through NBC's "NBC Direct" webservice, but they are not yours. If you want them, you have to buy the DVD. This is what confuses me most about the decision. They are still selling their content, but only in a physical form.

Where's the advantage? People smart enough to get past Apple's ample security can get certainly rip any DVD content they want.

The obvious answer would seem to involve advertising, but certainly this could be co-opted into the episodes they would sell on ITunes. Advertisers have to know that the majority of viewers like Tivo viewers are either fast forwarding, muting or finding some other way to ignore the minor annoyance. (I'm doing it right now) Advertising has been up against it since the remote control. Somehow the economy manages to survive.

Already NBC's website is howling with complaints. Fans who liked the freedom of watching their favorite episodes over and over again on their video IPod device are upset. Fans outside of the United States are furious because they are frozen out altogether.

So congratulations NBC. You've offended trendy tech users, your fans, environmentalists and even earned yourself a mocking from Steven Colbert.

Read more!

Creed Line of the night

"I've been in involved in a number of cults both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader." - The Office, Season 4, Ep. 1


Read more!