The lack of commercials is very important, to say the least. Many people might rather watch the video while on the subway than have to clear out their schedule and put up with ads.

Also, encoding video is something that many people don't know how to do properly, even if you streamline it for them. And unfortunately legal reasons prevent Apple from simply creating an "import DVD" option in iTunes like there is for CDs. Paying $2 per episode may seem silly for people like us, but it eliminates a lot of the guesswork for the casual user.

"per episode" and "per show" are meaning less. When the initial five shows were being offered it was a clear $2 per full episode. Now we're in a swirl of madness where $2 will get you six whole minutes of Jay Leno. \

Google: Bill Hicks + Leno + satan

Sadly we lack the uniformity of $0.99 USD per track. It was simple, it was clear, it was uniform, it was doomed.

But given all that, I'll stay it again: Hitchcock, baby, Hitchcock!!!

I heard that Apple was going to start allowing the stations to put in commercials tp help better thier profit margins?

I understand that NBC is unhappy about Tivo and other companies allowing consumers to space-shift content they've already paid to access.

What I don't understand is this burgeoning idea that somehow the contract with consumers is one piece of content attached to a particular monitor. They are desperately trying to monitize every node in the path.

FFS ...the Gov needs to stop accepting lobby dollars and sitting with their thumbs up their arse. Craft some complete Fair Use doctrines and abide by them. Until then we'll get content companies thinking they can squeeze a dime out of everything and legislators who are basically on the dole for campaign funds.