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.
January 31, 2006 at 9:16 am
[...] 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. [...]
February 3, 2006 at 9:44 am
[...] The media has caught on to what Tunevision reported on earlier this week, that Comedy Central’s stand-up comedy has been doing surprisingly well in the iTMS. Reuters is reporting on the phenomenon of this unexpected popularity. The article has little to add in the way of information, but a quick check of the most popular programs this morning shows that Dane Cook’s stand-up comedy has risen to the #1 spot at the expense of Lost which did not broadcast a new episode this week. Whether that top spot is maintained when last night’s episode of The Office is added sometime today remains to be seen. [...]