Disney to make TV shows available for free download

i tried to download Sleeper Cell through iTunes and it wouldnt allow me so it isnt on iTunes over here

Sleeper Cell is on FX tomorrow night, i recommend it highly for anyone who hasnt seen it yet

elurhs wrote:

Yeah, I reckon myself that Disney will only make legal downloads available in the US, with US advertisments. The loss of revenue from selling the programmes to other countries wouldn't be worth it.

They could also do the same in other countries - include local advertising. The numbers would still be small enough (at first anyway) not to affect the international sales. I think the cost will be the biggest issue when this does achieve international roll-out. We'd all probably be fine with $0.99 per show (given that most of us would go on to buy shows we like on DVD later) - but anything well over $2 would probably mean it'd be wiser just to wait for the DVD in the first place (rather than fork out twice).

Ultimately, legal video downloads will allow programmes to be watched on a par with their US airings - there just needs to be a guaranteed return on their investment. But since there was a time when few websites carried ads targetted locally (most were American in the early days), we can expect a similar flow on video downloads, I reckon.

As the distributor, it's in Disney's (and the others') interests to rewrite their contracts with broadcasters to say "This programme can be aired on television first by you, but may/will also have been made available via broadcaster.com for download..."