United Hollywood congratulates NBC on yesterday's launch of NBC Direct Download, a new way to make money on the Internet. You can read the details here.
The service allows viewers to download full episodes of NBC programs for free. The viewer can watch the video on a computer for seven days until it "expires." Ads are embedded in the videos and are not skippable. Unlike with streamed episodes, viewers can fast-forward and rewind the show content.
Is NBC Direct Download the future of TV? It doesn't sound like it from the reviews. Of course, neither was Betamax. But VHS caught on. And then DVDs caught on. And then the video iPod caught on. And you just know that right now, as he sits in his levitating chair, Steve Jobs is staring at five top-secret devices laid out on a lab table, any one of which could change the way we consume media overnight.
There's money to be made with video on that there Internet. It's not a matter of if, but when. Will the creative professionals who make that content get fair compensation for it? We'll find out.
(And, psst: Steve Jobs. I'll beta test that iPhone 2 anytime.)
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