Aussie iTunes TV show selection - a bit of a yaaawner

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 25 June 2008 14:29

Opinion and Analysis

iYawn... yeah, Apple has finally, after a million, zillion years, launched TV shows in the Australian iTunes store. I’m sure it’ll grow, or at least, I certainly hope so, but for now... iYawn. Aaaah.

Ooooh! Apple has finally launched TV shows down under! Wow! iExcitement! iAmazement! And iYawn all at the same time.

What do we have? TV shows from the Walt Disney ABC TV network like Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Scrubs which all air on Channel 7 in Australia.

This one’s hardly a surprise – Steve Jobs is Disney’s largest individual shareholder, so if Apple couldn’t strike some kind of deal to get the a few US ABC TV shows on sale, it would never have happened.

But there are plenty of US shows missing, and the question as to when they too will appear is wide, wide open. Why? Because free-to-air networks in Australia want to show them first, and sell advertising around them.

By the time they get to iTunes they’ll be old news, unlike in the US when they go to iTunes the day after they’ve aired on television.

Given the astounding awful way that Australian networks treat Australian viewers by messing around with episodes, mixing in repeats with new versions and more, there’s little hope that the Australian iTunes store will be anywhere near as efficient as the US iTunes store anytime soon.

Then there are some programs from MTV like Pimp My Ride, South Park, Blue’s Clues and others, as well as Disney kids shows, like Hannah Montana and the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, all of which can be seen on Foxtel, if memory serves correctly.

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