Will People Pay For TV On Demand?

Both CBS and NBC have announced today that they've inked deals with cable providers to allow their most popular programs to be available for viewing on demand - for a fee.

Want to watch CSI or Law & Order, but time-shifted (and you don't own a TiVo or other DVR)? Got 99 cents? It's yours.

Here's a snippet from the story on MSN Money:

"You can't stop technology," said David Zaslav, president of NBC Universal Cable. "People are viewing content differently and this is going to happen."

NBC Universal and DirecTV, the biggest satellite broadcaster, have agreed to make top NBC programmes available through a new digital video recorder, DirecTV Plus, which is being made available at retailers this month. For 99 cents, viewers will be able to watch top shows without commercials.

In the deal with CBS and Comcast Corp, the biggest cable operator, popular television shows can, from January, be viewed after they are aired for 99 cents, but commercials will be included. The service will be available to more than 8m digital subscribers.

This comes on the heels of ABC's deal with Apple, allowing people to download Desperate Housewives thru Apple's iTunes onto the new video iPods.

The only redeeming aspect of the $0.99 deal is that viewers will be able to see edited, commercial-free versions of the programs.

So, will people pay for the convenience? Perhaps very, very short term. But I think this time-shifting ability is going to be the expected norm - for free - very soon.

-aB