Fox gives away free TV pilot on iTunes
updated 11:00 am EDT, Tue September 6, 2011
Rare exception to restrictive network policies
Fox is doing a rare TV show giveaway on the US iTunes Store, reports note. The network is currently offering the pilot episode of New Girl, a sitcom will only officially premiere on September 28th. Show downloads should remain free until around that date, after which people will have to pay normal iTunes prices. Variety comments that the giveaway may mark only the second time a US broadcaster has given away a complete sneak peek, the first instance being Fox's failed series Lone Star.
Starting next week the New Girl pilot will also be free to view on Hulu, Fox.com and some other websites. By the 28th though viewings will become subject to Fox's eight-day digital broadcast delay, for which the only exceptions are Dish or Hulu Plus subscriptions. The gap is credited with causing a surge in piracy of Fox TV content.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2009
not really that rare
perhaps for fox but a lot of pilots have gone up for free.
now what would be really amazing and crazy would be if Fox or anyone of the big 5 declared that this year they are going to supplement the questionably accurate Nielsen ratings with online viewing by adding all sales from Amazon, iTunes and ad monies from Hulu and their own sites to each shows budget make good. Thus acknowledging that there are more folks out there than the 25k that Nielsen pays attention to and make their shows are better than Nielsen and its ratings show them to be.