What does Apple need for HDTV distribution?

It's a good question that's asked (and answered) by Thomas Hawk in his commentary of Johnathan Greene's article. We've touched up on some of this in the past; we were especially interested in how much you would pay Apple for HDTV downloads. Some good points were made in the comments. One that stands out questions why would we pay any more than $1.99 since we're paying for content and not format?

Technical hurdles and pricing aside, there's one aspect in my mind that Apple would need: a mechanism simple enough for the every day user. Let's be honest here: the iPod and the iTunes music store aren't really technically revolutionary. One of the main reasons for the success is the simplicity. You click, you buy, you get and you listen. That's the magic formula.

So how does Apple, or anyone else, apply that formula to high-definition content?

Clearly the successful company will need some of things that Thomas states: bandwidth,
centralized content, etc... They also need to introduce an HDTV device that works as simple as the iPod and iTunes, something akin to Akimbo,
for example. Most people don't want to understand what a "BitTorrent"
is, nor do they care how it works. Windows Media Center PCs are getting there, but again, the adoption is mainly within the more technically-adept community.

Look at it this way using traditional television. Do people want to know or even care to know how a program is recorded, compressed, sent via cable,
satellite or over the air to their set? No, they want to turn the set on and have instant gratification without caring how they got it. The same holds true for music and iPod; the same will hold true for HDTV
downloads as well.