BBC Shows on iTunes Music Store

Well this is interesting. The BBC have put some of their more popular shows onto the UK iTunes Music Store for paid download. Oddly I don’t have any philosophical objections to paying to download shows I’ve missed, even if I have already paid my license fee. If it makes my life easier then that’s fine. But there are a few problems with the current set up.

Firstly, at £1.89 per episode it is *way* too expensive. The equivalent shows in the US cost $1.99. With the current exchange rate that works out at £1.00. I could live with a pound a go, but almost two pounds takes it out of my price range.

The selection of shows on the ITMS (in the UK at least) is woefully small. If I’m going to get into this then I’d like there to be a fair chance that the show I want will be there, otherwise I’ll continue with my current set up for catching up with missed programmes.

Finally, I believe that in the US, you can subscribe to a season rather than buying individual episodes of a programme. If, for example, I wanted to get season 3 of Lost, then I would much prefer it came down to me automatically after it got released rather than me having to go and actively buy it.

So what do you think? If you’re in the UK will you be using the new service? And if you’re across the pond, do you already use iTunes, or do you have some other route for getting your TV?