HDTV downloads: how much would you pay?

By Kevin C. Tofel

I was doing some math this morning and basically got a headache.
Maybe you folks can help me out. The new iTunes video content costs
$1.99 and you can see for yourself what that gets you over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog.
That's two bucks for QVGA or 320 x 240 resolution and no commercials.
Let's ignore the BitTorrent sites that offer television and any other
"questionable sources" of content for a moment.

If iTunes (or HDNet, Microsoft,
or anyone for that matter) were to offer high-definition content of recent television shows, what would you pay? The average 720p format offers about 921,600 pixels per frame. That's about twelve times the pixels of QVGA, but I'm betting that you don't want to pay twelve times the price. Would you purchase HD content for two times the price? Four times? How about it? Maybe if we do some market research we can spur along iTunes 7.0!

 

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