I Missed Prison Break’s Premier. Now I’d Pay for It. But Can I?

Last night I TiVo’d Prison Break. Much to my dissappointment, Comcast’s signal was out. So TiVo gifted me with an hour of commercial-free static. Ants racing. Poltergeist.

I went to Fox.com to see if I could buy the show via Fox “Video on Demand.” It’s only available in certain markets, but I entered a random LA address to get around that (thanks, Techcrunch– tried entering the Fox Interactive address, but they were wise to me… so I Googled an address in LA). Turns out I can’t open it on my home Mac anyway. And my work computer won’t take ActiveX. Finally, our new Satellite PC laptop is now (thanks to my kids) missing almost all of the letters on it. But I digress.

There’s a HUGE market for people that want time shifted TV and are HAPPY to pay. I’d pay $10 right now for a copy of the William Shatner Roast because Comcast’s static signal also made me miss it (although I’m quite sure Comedy Central will rerun it with the same frequency of the Pamela Anderson Roast… daily?).

Memo to networks: Air your shows. Make your ad revenue. But when you’re done, sell copies of episodes for $3-$5 a shot! You can even DRM the hell out of it. I don’t want to share it. I just want to see it!

P.S. In another signal that Comcast is moving out its monopoly mode, the company told me 20 minutes ago they’d have someone to my house by noon to fix the signal. You think they know I’m the guy that’s got a spotlight on Comcast?