NBC to offer free downloads of Heroes

NBC has announced that they will offer free, ad-supported downloads of popular shows for one week after the original broadcast. This is awesome news, considering they news that they dumped iTunes in favor of Amazon Unbox and a price hike.

The new program, called NBC Direct will allow Windows users (no Macs) the ability to download some of the most popular NBC primetime and late-night shows. I have no idea why they're not letting Mac users in, and I'm sure they will change that shortly.

Here is some information from the press release:

The first version of this new feature, which will begin beta testing in October, will allow users to download full length episodes for viewing on Windows based PCs. Each original episode will be licensed to users for viewing through "NBC Direct" for one week following broadcast and will then expire. The downloaded file will provide users with an improved overall viewing experience compared to traditional streaming video.

The list of programs available at launch will include "Heroes," "The Office," "Life," "Bionic Woman," "30 Rock," "Friday Night Lights," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."Later in the beta launch, users will be provided the free subscription option that will allow them to pre-select their favorite NBC programs they want to watch. Those shows will be automatically delivered to their computers as soon as they are available after the original broadcast. The downloadable player will also have filtering technology, which will prevent it from playing any stolen copyrighted material.

Cool.

Like what you read? Subscribe and get Heroes the Blog sent directly to your feed reader or, if that isn't your thing, rock your inbox with an email subscription.