In my post about bittorrent, I was wondering how we can use peer to peer technology in the future. One of the questions is how this market model works. After reading this, I got some idea.
The answer here is "rent vs buy". Instead of buying and owning the contents (in this case TV programs), it should be marketed a rental to a huge collection of programs. This collection included all the past TV programs, and as times goes on new one are added.

i.e. A new episode of Alias is released every Wedesday at 8:00pm EST. Once it's released, everyone subscribe to it can start download it using your beloved bittorrent and ready for your enjoyment. As your PVR's HDD getting full, it removes old one to make room for the new one. If you want to keep a particular one, you can tag it as your favorite so your PVR will keep it for instance viewing.

When you want to view a particular programs or series, you can tell your PVR to download it ahead of time, this can be done over the Internet or via cellphone. You can send the request from work over lunch and it will be ready for you when you get ome from work.

It's like renting a TV program. Indeed, it is a shift of philosophy from owning to renting. Think of it, one reason I bought my CDs/DVDs is so that I can watch it whenever I want to. If there is a collection of all I want is available whenever I want it, why I need to buy and own? In this case, I pay a monthly fee for the privilege to quickly access the contents I want, just like what Napster is offering for its music collection right now.

But a counter argument people usually have is they want to have the right to keep a backup for the contents they bought. But since this is a "renting" scheme, there is no reason for one to keep an backup, right? In another word, DRM will be a major issue here and it needs to sort out before this model will work. If someone can make a copy of the content, there will be sharing on the Net. I'm sure people will find way to do it. That's keep the model from working (aka making money)

But look, people are cheap (in a way), if there is a way to get it for free, certainly people going to do it. My take is the prirate and illegal copying issue will continue to exist unless the cost to this privilege is really low, and the contents are very easy to access. Also, content backup is allow as long as it's not shared in the public (sharing among a few friends is allow) .

Hum, can content makers make money from this?

Related:
Thinking Out Loud About the Ownership Society