Tunevision

Updates for Tuesday, January 31, 2006:

New Episodes

• 2006 Winter X Games (ESPN) – Day 2: Extended Highlights and Gold Medal Runs
• Best of the X Games (ESPN) – Best of Winter X ‘05: Review Show
• Drawn Together (Comedy Central) (iTunes Premiere) – Captain Girl
• Ebert & Roeper at the Movies (Syndication) – Ebert & Roeper at the Movies – Show #2023
• Surface (NBC) – Episode #114 (Aired Jan. 30)
• Wildfire (ABC Family) – Family Matters (Aired Jan. 30)

NOTE: Three of the “This Is SportsCenter” advertisements have been removed since yesterday. The other three are now available for free.

Also note that the second season of Knight Rider is listed in the iTMS but is not yet available for purchase.

Apparently someone heard all of the complaints about the This Is SportsCenter ads costing $1.99 because checking back again this morning, they are now available as a free download. However, only three of the six initially placed in the iTMS are listed with the other three currently missing in action. But it is nice to see that someone at ESPN and Apple were listening to the complaints.

Updates for Monday, January 30, 2006:

New Episodes

• 2006 Winter X Games Highlights (ESPN) (New Show) – Day 1: Extended Highlights and Gold Medal Runs
• This Is SportCenter Advertisements (ESPN) (New Show) – Six commercials*

* These were initially available briefly on Saturday, but were temporarily unavailable until today.

Some people are very displeased about the new programming efforts from ESPN. iLounge is reporting on this, but I noticed it during the brief period of time on Saturday before the “This Is SportsCenter” ads were temporarily removed. The comments were all negative and the idea of paying $1.99 for 30-second commercials doesn’t seem to be sitting right with anyone at all. Especially when many of the older (and, in my opinion, funnier) ones are available online for free.

I’ve been working on a future commentary piece last week called “Handicapping New Programming” (I’m hoping to have this up later this week) and I had actually speculated that ESPN might offer their “This Is SportsCenter” ads as a free download. I honestly didn’t think they’d consider charging people for advertisements, no matter how funny some of them were.

This has gone quietly unnoticed, but the most popular additions from last week are clearly the stand-up comedy bits from Comedy Central. Dane Cook’s session is the #3 download and Mitch Hedberg is close behind at #6, and these have been this way since they were released. I think it’s a combination of a number of things, but it essentially boils down to 20 minutes of comedy for $2, which works out to be cheaper than most comedy CDs. If Comedy Central continues to add new comics to this, it looks like it will end up being easy money for them.

ESPN wasted no time in adding some new sports content to the iTMS following their first additions on Saturday. Today you can download some of the highlights from the 2006 Winter X Games that are going on right now. This appears to be a similar situation to the BCS bowl games earlier this month and this is the first set of content of actual sporting events added to the iTMS since then.

Updates for Saturday, January 28, 2006:

New Episodes:

• Battlestar Galactica – Black Market (Aired Jan. 27)
• Best of the X Games (ESPN) (New Show) – Three Episodes
• ESPN Sports Century (ESPN) (New Show) – Four Episodes
• Monk (USA) – Mr. Monk and the Captain’s Marriage (Aired Jan. 27)
• South of Nowhere (The N) – Say It Ain’t So, Spencer (Aired Jan. 27)
• Street Ball (ESPN) (New Show) – Five Episodes

NOTE: Six “This Is SportsCenter” ads were available briefly but are now returning errors.

Just discovered in the iTunes Music Store, new programming from ESPN and ABC Sports. The new additions featured include Best of the X Games, featuring highlights from Winter X Games 9 in Aspen, Sports Century Shorts, featuring short clips about Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, Jeff Gordon and Dan Marino, some of the commercials from ESPN’s “This Is SportsCenter” campaign, and five episodes of Street Ball. This also gives a new home for the four BCS bowl game highlight videos that were added earlier this month.

Updates for Friday, January 27, 2006:

New Episodes:

• The Office (NBC) – The Carpet (Aired Jan. 26)

iLounge is reporting that as part of the MTV Networks deal yesterday, select episodes of Comedy Central and Nickelodeon will be offered exclusively on iTunes in advance of their network broadcast.

The Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 is already offering their next episode, “Girls Will Be Boys” as a paid download prior to its scheduled airing of Sunday, January 29. The Comedy Central series Drawn Together will feature their next episode as a free download in iTunes starting Monday, January 30, prior to its airing on Wednesday, February 1.

This marks the first time that a television series has offered an episode of a television series in the iTunes Music Store prior to its actual airing, a feature that many have been clamoring for.

Updates for Thursday, January 26, 2006:

New Seasons:

• The A-Team (NBC) (New Show) – Season 1 (14 Ep.)
• Beavis and Butt-head (MTV) (New Show) – Season 1 (9 Ep.)
• Best of Comedy Central Standup (Comedy Central) (New Show) – 10 Episodes
• Dora the Explorer (Nick) (New Show) – Season 1 (26 Ep.)
• Drawn Together (Comedy Central) (New Show) – Season 1 and 2 (7, 8 Ep.)
• The Gauntlet 2 (MTV) (New Show) – Season 1 (8 Ep.)
• Jackass (MTV) (New Show) – Season 1 (5 Ep.)
• Laguna Beach (MTV) (New Show) – Season 1 (11 Ep.)
• My Super Sweet 16 (MTV) (New Show) – Season 1 and 2 (6, 8 Ep.)
• Punk’d (MTV) (New Show) – Season 1, 2 and 3 (9, 8, 8 Ep.)
• South of Nowhere (The N) (New Show) – Season 1 (8 Ep.)
• South Park (Comedy Central) (New Show) – Season 1 and 2 (13, 18 Ep.)
• SpongeBob SquarePants (Nick) (New Show) – Season 1 (20 Ep.)
• Wonder Showzen (MTV2) (New Show) – Season 1 (8 Ep.)
• Zoey 101 (Nick) (New Show) – Season 1 and 2 (13, 7 Ep.)

New Episodes:

• Lost (ABC) – Fire + Water (Aired Jan. 25)