Frequently Asked Questions

Once again we have been remiss when it comes to using our little geek soapbox here on ABC.com.  I guess the team prefers writing code more than writing words!  Actually, the truth is that we have a pretty serious soccer tournament underway on the office Xbox and it’s been quite the distraction.

But to prove to you that we are in fact listening to and taking into account your feedback, we wanted to provide some, hopefully, insightful answers to a couple of common questions.

Why do I have to install something to watch?
This one’s easy.  When you pick up your telephone, it just works, right?  And when you turn on your TV, that just works too.  Well we want to make sure that when you come to watch ABC shows online, that it just works.  We don’t want you to have to have to tell us what type of Internet connection you have, we don’t want your video stopping and starting all the time, we don’t want you to have any of those issues that used to be pretty common with video on the Internet.  We do want to make sure we can provide the high quality video experience that both you and the shows deserve.  So, to do that we’ve chosen a video delivery technology that currently offers the best way to get video to you – and it requires a little install.  But don’t worry, all it does is make sure you can kick back and watch your favorite show when you want.

Why can’t I watch the shows outside of the U.S.?
This one’s a bit tougher, but pretty interesting.  Contrary to popular opinion, the main reason we can’t allow use of the Player outside the U.S. is not because of the advertising, but actually because ABC doesn’t always own the rights to stream television shows in foreign territories.  For example, LOST is aired on Sky One in the U.K., and it has the distribution rights for that territory.  I should also mention that, in many cases, foreign territories might be a season or more behind the U.S. as well.  So as much as we’d love to, the foreign rights holders would probably be awfully upset if we just opened up our player internationally!  Bummer..

Look for more responses to your questions in the near future.

Okay, back to the soccer tourna.. umm.. I mean back to work.