No TV in Canadian iTMS?

On the left, the “Genres” selector from the iTunes Music Store for the US. On the right, the same “Genres” selector for iTMS Canada.

iTMS Genres: USA StoreiTMS Genres: Canadian Store

There’s no “TV” genre in the Canadian store. Searching for “Lost” doesn’t turn up anything related to the TV series. What gives? Some crazy licensing scheme where the Canadian networks are able to block distribution of an American show – which they already rebroadcast on Canadian airwaves?

The Video/Movies/TV component of the new iTMS really has the potential to change how we access media – subscribing to a series rather than a bundled package of 50 crap channels to get the one you want. Perhaps the cable companies in Canada have the power to protect their silly tier-bundling scheme by blocking iTMS Canada Video Store?

Man, I hope that’s not it… This is soooo close to being an industry-changing thing, but if it’s just copying/pasting existing monopolies and their silly licensing schemes, it’s not going to go nearly as far as it could have.

Jim Roepcke noticed this first.

On the left, the “Genres” selector from the iTunes Music Store for the US. On the right, the same “Genres” selector for iTMS Canada.

iTMS Genres: USA StoreiTMS Genres: Canadian Store

There’s no “TV” genre in the Canadian store. Searching for “Lost” doesn’t turn up anything related to the TV series. What gives? Some crazy licensing scheme where the Canadian networks are able to block distribution of an American show – which they already rebroadcast on Canadian airwaves?

The Video/Movies/TV component of the new iTMS really has the potential to change how we access media – subscribing to a series rather than a bundled package of 50 crap channels to get the one you want. Perhaps the cable companies in Canada have the power to protect their silly tier-bundling scheme by blocking iTMS Canada Video Store?

Man, I hope that’s not it… This is soooo close to being an industry-changing thing, but if it’s just copying/pasting existing monopolies and their silly licensing schemes, it’s not going to go nearly as far as it could have.

Jim Roepcke noticed this first.

8 thoughts on “No TV in Canadian iTMS?”

  1. I dunno, D’Arcy – do you think there’s a big market who want to watch re-runs of Beachcombers via iTMS? ;^)

    Seriously, I checked out some of the preview video footage yesterday from the Canadian iTMS, and there’s little doubt that this is going to change the way a lot of people consume their media! I’m ready to turf my TV and cable subscription for a new iMac and a little more bandwidth every month!

  2. Rob – you’re being sarcastic, but why _not_ have the Beachcombers on the iTMS? Or Friendly Giant? Or every episode of The Nature of Things. Or all of the other shows and series that vanish into the Long Tail that results from having limited broadcast spectrum available…

    Also, why have just Canadian shows? I should be able to buy shows from the BBC, from the Australian ABC, from Japan, Germany, etc… And why not Indy shows?

    What I’m waiting for is the first iTMS-exclusive shows… Shows that couldn’t get picked up by networks, but might make enough on iTMS to make a profit… Some kind of Blair Witch Project sleeper runaway hit that wouldn’t have been possible without a distribution mechanism like iTMS.

    Also, I was very happy to see that Mark Cuban agrees this might save TV – well, save something LIKE TV. The technology wasn’t the big innovation – the big change was on the business side of things.

  3. True enough – my tongue was firmly in my cheek when I mentioned the Beachcombers. But I would buy every episode of Friendly Giant that I could get my hands – er, uh – keyboard on (and as a father of a preschooler, you would probably be interested too).

    Tangentially, I think that the big product announcement yesterday was not the iPod, but the new iMac. With the Front Row software, it becomes clear that Apple is moving into the Media Center business in a big way (good thing cuz I’d hate to think of this market being controlled by Microsoft – ugh!). Speaking for myself, I’d much rather watch my old Beachcomber episodes on a swanky 20″ iMac than a 2.5″ iPod screen!

  4. Yeah. I really hope Front Row is available for all macs – it would work great for a Mac Mini sitting on top of my TV. And a bluetooth keyboard would make one kick-ass remote control 🙂 I’d be willing to bet that the next rev. of Mini will include the IR port for the remote control. Or, they’ll offer a USB dongle for it, so it can be added to any system…

  7. It's insane. I'm sure the CRTC has its sticky fingers in these legal issues.  Argh.  Talk about changing the landscape of the industry.  It could force the networks to actually produce some quality tv shows … might even give some Canadian shows a bit of extra limelight.

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