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Mad Men chooses Apple distribution instead of TV

updated 05:35 pm EDT, Fri August 14, 2009

Mad Men Apple exclusive


The TV drama series Mad Men is set to forgo distribution by its previous broadcasters in Canada, following a deal for exclusive online availability through Apple, according to Media in Canada. Viewers of earlier seasons will have to watch the third through iTunes Canada, or else the American channel AMC.

The series had previously been shown by CTV in Canada, along with the company's secondary A network. CTV has not yet commented on the circumstances surrounding the departure of Mad Men.

The decision marks one of the first instances of a well-known TV show diverging from standard business models. Producers have historically utilized network broadcasting as a primary focus, with Internet distribution taking a back seat as a supplementary revenue generator.

Season three of Mad Men begins this Sunday. Canadian viewers can find the episodes on iTunes for $2.49 in standard definition, or $3.49 in high definition.


by MacNN Staff

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 industry, iTunes, Canada, TV, Apple

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  1. nowwhatareyoulookingat

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2009

    -5
    08/14, 07:19pm | report spam | (2 replies) Reply |

    hello

    piratebay. Really, forcing a PPV model on a TV series just doesn't cut it.

  1. mjtomlin

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 1999

    +5
    08/14, 08:38pm | report spam | (1 reply) Reply |

    The future

    They said the same thing in the 70's when cable was up and coming. "Who wants to pay for TV when we get it for free already?"

    Cable was supposed to be subscription based and free from advertising... we all know how that went.

    Let's just all hope the PPV model doesn't get crammed up with adverts as well.

  1. HobbesDoo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2009

    0
    08/15, 12:39pm | report spam | Reply |

    Problems

    There are a few problems with this approach:

    - how many people have their computers connected to their TVs?

    - you're stuck to watching the show via iTunes / Quicktime only - People that prefer other media centre software (e.g. the excellent Plex) are out of luck due to the DRM

    - since the shows are DRMed you can't burn them to DVDs and gaining a broader audience

    I think the idea is great though, but the issues above should also be addressed.

  1. LouZer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2000

    +1
    08/15, 02:52pm | report spam | Reply |

    so...

    The decision marks one of the first instances of a well-known television show to diverge from standard business models.

    All it means is that the producers didn't get the deal they wanted from CTV, but did from Apple.

    And this is only new to TV Series (kind of). There's been many a movie that has gone 'straight to video'.

    And there have been shows whose initial distribution has been the web.

  1. LouZer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2000

    -1
    08/15, 02:58pm | report spam | (1 reply) Reply |

    Re; The future

    Cable was supposed to be subscription based and free from advertising... we all know how that went.

    Cable was NEVER supposed to be 'free from advertising'. One of the initial reasons people got cable was because they didn't want stupid antennas on their houses, or, even if they did, couldn't get any channels.

    Cable has been around since the 50s (yes, it has) and it always has had commercials. The only networks that came about without commercials tend to be the pay channels like HBO and Craptime... uh, I mean Showtime.

    I can only think of one network that doesn't show commercials that isn't 'pay'. TCM.

    Let's just all hope the PPV model doesn't get crammed up with adverts as well.

    Oh, it will. Don't you concern yourself about that. They show commercials before movies (always have, though people thought it was OK when it was just 'trailers'). They added commercials to DVDs (really annoying for something you paid a butt-load for). They certainly will start adding commercials to stuff on iTunes or the like once their profits start leveling off from sales.

    h***, just look how sports have become so ad-ridden.

  1. sleadley

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2000

    +2
    08/15, 06:30pm | report spam | Reply |

    International

    Well lets just hope that this follows for folks like us in Australia. It does make sense that this is a great model for the future. The money flows to the people who make great shows. I for one would be happy to subscribe to HBO, for example with the promise of no ads and a fair fee to watch any of their shows on demand.
    The ABC in Oz has a great service called iView which works extremely well on an ADSL 2 connection.

    The future is hurtling down the tracks the broadcasters have to catch up or end up like the record companies, largely irrelevant.
    S.

  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    08/15, 06:57pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: International

    The money flows to the people who make great shows.

    Right. And that's what they said about the iTMS. And yet the money continues to flow to the labels, not the artists and writers.

    The future is hurtling down the tracks the broadcasters have to catch up or end up like the record companies, largely irrelevant.

    Irrelevant? I don't think so. You might hope for it, but it hasn't happened yet.

  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    -4
    08/15, 06:58pm | report spam | Reply |

    oh

    And just curious. How much do you think Apple paid them for this?

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