» Battlestar Galactica in the Media Options

[Dim Bulb]

I did send an email to nbc universal about it, for all the good that'll do. -quara33

I'd love to send an email too, but their site is set up so that [techno-babble] and I can't get their email address. It's a long time to explain. Would you mind posting their email address?

[orchidea]

NBC to Apple: We never wanted to sell episodes for $4.99 from tv squad.

[DocOrlando]

HA! More like, "We wanted to wangle people into buying more than they needed to buy in order to leverage our cross-media exposure and try to boost our flagging profits."

Plenty of networks have run promotions through iTunes, or -- NBC included! -- offered sneak-peek or free episodes in order to try and encourage viewers to try something new and (with luck) get hooked. I've gotten plenty of free music downloads via Pepsi, or breakfast cereal, etc. So the potential for an ongoing promotion such as "bundling" is just as practical as buying an album for less than the cost of individual tracks, or grabbing a series through a "season pass" rather than grabbing eps separately.

Sorry, NBC, I don't buy it (literally). I'll know within an episode or two if I want to stick with Bionic Woman, and I don't have cable, so I'll simply resort to other methods to see BSG. It's not illegal if I watch a friend's videotape or burned from DVR DVD, now is it? And it will neither cost ME, nor pay YOU, a dime.

[quara33]

I send emails to nbcshows@nbcuni.com and nbcunisupport@nbcuni.com . I got auto-reply messages from both.

I am planning on sending a snail-mail letter on Tuesday to this address :

NBCUNI.COM FEEDBACK
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608

I'm sending two copies, one care of Beth Comstock, who is in charge of 'integrated' media, and one care of Jeff Gaspin, who is President of NBC Universal Cable and Digital content. I got all this from the nbc universal site here: http://nbcuni.com/ .

Make sure to stress the portability issue when you write--they are trying to start a youtube-like alternative, which would require a live internet connection to watch. Make sure to stress the quality of the itunes product, the ability to re watch easily, and, most importantly the ability to take the shows with you on the plane, while working out, or when in an area without internet access. Point out that these features make shows very apealing to casual viewers, and would be lost with a streaming video website.

Also, it'd probably be best not to threaten to find downloads 'elsewhere', NBC is very quick to go after people who find alternative downloads, and handing them your email address isn't going to help you.

[Dim Bulb]

Thanks for the info, quara33! It's really helpful. I'm definitely going to be sending them some mail come Monday.

[cutecouple]

Personally, I think that NBC wanted to get out early from their iTunes contract to support their new online venture, and decided to make it too unbearable. Also, they may have been counting on Apple to keep their content on until the end of the current contract to 'addict' users, who would then have more incentive to track down the online venture. [/conspiracy theory hat]

At this point though, it looks like a giant corporate pissing match with fans of BSG and other shows in the middle. Hard to tell where the truth ends and where the BS begins.

[satchel53]

According to this story at aintitcool news, the finale won't air until 2009.

And some bad news: There are 20 episodes in the final season and the plan now from Sci-Fi is to show 10 of them in Feb. of 2008 and then wait until Feb. of 2009 to show the final 10! Needless to say, the large crowd at the panel was not pleased considering the 18-month gap we are already enduring.

[quara33]

Just got a clarification on the "finale won't air until 2009" thing. A poster (greycoupon both on sci-fi and LJ) on the sci-fi board said that this was only a proposed airing schedule, not the official one. The actors did indeed attack this proposal, but nothing official was announced, so AICN may be jumping the gun. Still, it sounded like the actors very much wanted the fans to register their disapproval of stretching things out a bit, so the chaos might be a good thing, and prevent it from occurring.

Here's the post : http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?s=&s...t&p=4104466

I was wondering why none of the con reports mentioned anything about the official schedule, since it would've been huge news.

ETA: Another poster on sci-fi is saying it was entirely a joke made by one of the actors at the Dragon Con Q&A panel, and it was not even a possible schedule floated by the networks. Whatever the 'real' story is, there is no official announcement about the schedule for season 4 whatsoever. The AICN source either misheard or misunderstood.

This post has been edited by quara33: Sep 2, 2007 @ 4:42 am.

[stillshimpy]

There are also posters over on the Skiffy boards that were there that are swearing up and down it was a joke Douglas was making. So, at this point I'm not going to freak out. Hopefully there will be more clarification, and it will all come down to one of those classic miscommunications. Some people that were there say it absolutely wasn't a joke, and others that were there are saying the exact opposite.

I have a question for anyone that was at the con, or anyone who might know this, Richard Hatch was there - did he say anything about appearing in season four?

[TheLabRat]

If what I'm reading about this scheduling thing is being interpreting properly (by myself that is) it sounds like Douglas wasn't joking but that the scheduling oddity isn't set in stone. There seem to be implications (or incorrect inferences) that Douglas was maybe hoping fans would would make their opinion on the subject known because he's not in favor of the idea either. That seemed to be one or two people's take on the statements he made anyway.

[satchel53]

There's too much confusion...I can't get no relief

I found this account from hijinx400, a poster at battlestar_blog

Jamie: They're trying to draw this show out. They've only got one more season. They want it to last as long as they can - to be the only network that can air this show. This show is going to live way beyond SciFi Channel.

Aaron: The rumor is that they're doing the first 10 of Season 4, and then they're going to wait until the next February to air the other ones.

[crowd kinds of laughs - not believing]

Jamie: For real!

Aaron: That's what they're talking about.

[NOOOO from the crowd]

Aaron: February, March, April - first 10. Wait another year. February, March, April.

Jamie: That way they do get a Season 5 without paying for Season 5. Cheap. Cheap.

Aaron: [sarcastically] We LOVE SciFi Channel. [fake smile and thumbs up]

Jamie: Aaron, we're never going to get another job on SciFi Channel. Or maybe for NBC..oh shit!

Aaron: Look into my eyes. Do I care?


So that is what they actually said. I did not take any of it to be them pulling out leg. They actually believed that SciFi was/is considering this.

[jo86]

Excuse me for this waste of a post, but if that's true? Kill me now.

[stillshimpy]

jo86, I wouldn't make out your will quite yet :-) Stick a question mark at the end of "For real!" and the whole dynamic of that changes. I know Scifi has pulled some boneheaded things in the past, so it isn't out of the question, it would just seriously be such an incredibly idiotic move that I don't think they would do it. The entire point to these insanely long breaks, to get viewers to tune back in to see an uninterrupted season. I think 24 started it, now shows like Lost are following suit. The pay channel series have been doing that for some time but on commerical TV there's no way to get away with a year break and only ten episodes per season. Frankly, people's memories aren't that good.

Besides, Scifi watched their ratings tank, and I do mean tank for the last ten episodes of SG1. That was in part because they were shown in the UK and with that year long break that is being talked about, the same thing would happen. Just about everybody in the U.S. watched them because the UK had a different contract which would be likely to happen if they pulled such a crap for brains move again. They even acknowledged that mistake earlier this summer.

[katygrl]

I sat in on that pannel on Saturday(ah, D*C, how all the days run together) and they were not joking about the proposed airing schedule. They may have said it in a less than serious way but I was 7 rows back and I could see their faces very well. Neither of them looked very impressed with Skiffy. JB said specifically that it had something to do with Skiffy keeping proprietary airing rights longer. I would have hazard a guess that it would keep BSG out of syndication and on Skiffy longer. Think about it- They can potential keep BSG out of syndication until 2010. That would most likely help them with scheduling and I'm sure they'd have some sort of retentioned audience to boot.

This post has been edited by katygrl: Sep 3, 2007 @ 8:10 pm.

[TWoP Bayliss]

Let's try to keep this conversation happening in one place -- namely, the Scheduling thread. Thanks.