WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channel

[Chris Springob]

I haven't seen this mentioned in any other thread:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10037170/

LOS ANGELES - America Online and Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution are launching a broadband network that will give a new lease on life to a slew of vintage TV series.

Dubbed “In2TV,” the network will serve up “Welcome Back Kotter,” “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” “Pinky and the Brain” and “Growing Pains” among a host of other Warner-owned shows that viewers can watch in their entirety, for free and on-demand, beginning in January.

Each show is presented with interactive elements, games, competitions and additional content to take advantage of the medium’s unique capabilities.

In the last paragraph of the story, B5 is mentioned as one of the shows in question.

 

[Shaal Mayan]

You have got to be kidding me if you had notprovided a link I would not have believed it I will stick with my Dvd set.

 

[Londos6]

I find it hard to believe all these shows are for free. I suspect after a short time they will start charging.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

You have got to be kidding me if you had notprovided a link I would not have believed it I will stick with my Dvd set.

When a motor company buys a bike company it is a safe bet that they will start making motorbikes. (Alternatively, the directors are power mad idiots.)

I have been expecting this to happen since AOL bought Time Warner. It has taken them a very long time to do the obvious.

Charging for tv programmes will be difficult; you cannot exceed the price charged by cable companies (there are exceptions). Possibly why AOL says that it will be running adverts.

 

[Sindatur]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

Andrew, Cable doesn't charge by the show, they charge by the month and different monthly dollar amounts according to what level of service you have. So, it doesn't really make sense to say a single program can't exceed what a cable company charges.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

You can. The formula is something like
monthly charge / days in month / hours watched in the day.

In Brooklyn Cablevision charge $32.52 for the " Family Cable & Broadcast Basic" per month.
http://www.cablevision.com
If you watch for 4 hours a day

$32.52 / 31 / 4 = $0.26

Alternatively instead of 26 cents AOL will probably charge the same price as renting a DVD.

 

[Sindatur]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

But you don't understand Andrew, some people will have their TV on 12 hours a day as a baby sitter, and others may only watch one half hour show a week. Some will pay $90.00-120.00 a month for every channel in existence, while others will pay $25.00 a month for basic.

So, take a guy who pays $90.00 a month to get Showtime and watches 1 program, that program costs him $90.00 a month. Someone else leaves their basic on all day long on PBS for their kids, they are watching 200 or more programs a month, and paying $25.00 a month.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

You can play with the extremes but you have to price for the average. Consumers like the government tend to take the cheapest bid.

Specialist groups may be willing to pay more but only to get specialist content. (Sci-Fi may be specialist.)

 

[fisheggs]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

It'll turn into another monthly charge soon enough. Watch, get hooked, then be willing to subscribe to the service or get cut off. And be willing to put up with bad compression artifacts. They don't seem to be offering individual episodes, rather their entire library.

BTW, Sindatur, you need to update the stats in your tag. :devil:

 

[Sindatur]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

LOST is actually selling episodes for $1.99 ea through iTunes, for about 3 or 4 weeks now.

Fisheggs, yea, I know, trouble is, the numbers make more sense now, all those who believe he's a liar, no longer approve of his performance

 

[Jan]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

Fresh from the moderated newsgroup:

Title: Re: B5 part of WB/AOL online TV deal
Author: jmsatb5@aol.com
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 01:18:57 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <1132017497.476150.174530@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>

Patty Winter wrote:
> Because I don't have AOL, I wasn't paying much attention to the
> postings in rec.arts.tv about the new Warner Bros./AOL agreement to
> provide old TV shows over AOL until I saw these examples of shows
> that will air on the "Heroes and Horrors" channel: "Wonder Woman,
> Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman and Babylon 5."
>
> More details at:
>
> http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6283279.html
>
>

Also at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/14/business/14warner.html

Yes, this is going ahead. I've been quietly working with WB on this
for a while now, both for the AOL material and the wireless phone
component...editing down various parts into differenty-sized bites for
when you're standing around in line at the bank. So there's "make me
laugh" and "thrill me" segments (the elevator scene in "Convictions"
being one, and a big Narn/Shadow fight for the latter) of 3-4 minutes,
"Tell me a story" which is 12 minutes long on average, being an a- or
b-story pulled out on its own, and of course "show me an episode."

This combined approach will help to put B5 out there in front of a huge
audience of both regular viewers, computer folks, and people just
curious to sample the show in brief bites.

jms

message (c) 2005 by
synthetic worlds ltd.
permission to reprint
specifically denied to sfx magazine

At first my reaction was lukewarm but I almost have to check out some of these shorts.

Jan

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

I had heard about this, but I'm not clear on the platform. Are they launching a broad band cable network, which will offer this stuff "On Demand," Or, is it only for AOL subscribers, who have broadband computer service? I have Comcast Broad Band Cable, with On Demand, and would love to see some of this stuff.

AMS, and others - some US TV networks are offering recent eps of some programs on "In Demand," a pay "on demand" service, for $.99. As far as I am concerned, that's what DVRs are for, so, the service makes no sense.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

To answer my own question, I found an article on Yahoo that was more specific about how it would work, but with less info on which shows. It will be an online service for people with broadband access. And, guess what, , You'll have to watch commercials to see the shows. They haven't decided whether the commercials will come before the program, or, in the same spots where the commercials originally ran in the program. I guess that explains how they are paying for it, and why they are doing it.

 

[hypatia]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

The Daily Show makes you watch a brief (and loud) commercial before you can see their clips. I think that's a small price to pay to see them after they have aired, actually.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

Over the next few years lots of different ways of paying for and distributing TV over internet will be tried. Lots of different prices will be charged.

We are also going to see Dot Com Part 2 – Straight to Video. Few of the new companies will survive.

 

[TR_3]

mmm..what i though I read somewhere that b5 was going to be free for download. The benefit would be the ads on downloader and download page, as well as maybe ads at the beginning of each episode..but mainly on the download page..

 

[Pobman]

Re: WB to webcast B5 reruns on new internet channe

Quote from JMS:

Yes, this is going ahead. I've been quietly working with WB on this for a while now, both for the AOL material and the wireless phone component...

Woah! He's been working on this, in addition to writing the comics, writing the intros for the script books and possibly doing some prep work for the TV show(s?) (have I missed anyhting out?). When does he have time to eat, sleep or even breathe?