CBS´s dive into the TV download market are leaving Apple Macintosh users out in the cold.
Last night´s episode of CBS´s SURVIVOR PANAMA - EXILE ISLAND is available for downloading at CBS.com for a limited time. But CBS´s decision to use Microsoft Media Player 9 as the requirements to view the download has cause extreme frustration for all Macintosh users, because Microsoft has never released a Macintosh version of their Media Player which supports with Digital Rights Management Version 2.20 (and rumors have it Microsoft never intends to).
iTunes, which is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers, currently holds a major market share for both Music and Television show downloads, was bypassed by CBS in releasing their television shows to the public. Two of the other major television networks, ABC and NBC, have released their shows via iTunes which has lead to some major success and revenue streams for the these two networks.
CBS on the other hand worked an agreement with Google to release some of their shows through their beta service at Video.Google.com. CBS also announced last week that they were releasing SURVIVOR PANAMA - EXILE ISLAND through their own video download service at CBS.com. This decision may end up backfiring, as CBS has placed numerous restrictions on the downloading of their shows. They include that you cannot burn your downloads to a CD/DVD, you cannot transferable your downloads to any portable device (including the iPod) and you are limited to one download per PC. What does this all mean? It pretty tells you that you are not allowed to share your downloads with anyone else.
But the biggest restrictions on the downloads, which is really hard to justify, is that it may only be viewed up to twenty-four (24) hours after you initially download it. In other words you have only 24 hours to watch the show than it is gone.
Will the general public buy into this service that CBS is offering? We will have to wait and see - but the general rumblings on Internet forums and blogs are not looking to good right now.
The cost to download and rent an episode of SURVIVOR PANAMA - EXILE ISLAND at CBS.com is $1.99.
