• CNN.com, Thursday, December 22, 2005 11:15 AM

Some observers are openly skeptical of the decision by several key content providers to offer "classic" TV shows to their audiences. Apple Computer (via iTunes) and AOL have recently announced that they were going to provide a slate of old TV shows, such as "Dragnet," "F Troop," and "Adam-12," as available downloads. Clearly, there is interest in classic TV programs as witnessed by the popularity of TVLand and Nick at Night. But will audiences be willing to pay for them, or be forced to watch commercials as part of the downloaded package? "There is a big difference between what AOL is doing--which is free and ad- supported--and expecting people to be motivated to pay for something," said Todd Chanko, an analyst of Jupiter Research, referring to the iTunes model. A spokesperson for Apple, in response, said episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" are among iTunes' most popular downloads at this time. Ultimately, said Chanko, the "Web will become a testing ground for a lot of older library content."

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