NBC's video download service launches, blows
NBC Direct, the network's episode download beta, went live at nbc.com on Saturday. I don't have access, since I'm on a Mac, but here's what you can expect:
- Full episode downloads of several popular shows, including 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs, etc.
- The shows are available for 7 days after the original air date
- Once downloaded, the shows must be viewed within 2 days, at which time the file becomes useless.
For these conveniences, NBC adds the following inconveniences:
- The service is PC and MSIE only
- Requires Windows Media Player
- Requires the latest Windows security update
Download Squad put together a video tutorial of the app. Thanks, guys.
NBC's service is interesting in that the company is also participating in Hulu, the recently-launched vidshare co-venture with News Corp. Recall also that NBC's Zucker recently lambasted Apple's iTunes for not providing much revenue to NBC. NBC's obviously experimenting at this point, and personally, I think it's the right thing to do. This first release sucks, but give them time. They're on the right track.
