Apple announced yesterday that in 20 days 1 million videos were downloaded off of iTunes.  To put this in some perspective, every week Hockey Night in Canada draws 1.2 million viewers.  This is the most watched television program in Canada, on air for over 50 years.

Apple drew in 1 million viewers in 20 days and its viewers paid to watch something that was going to air for free on broadcast television. 

Video streamed from the Internet is something that has long been predicted.  But like most things it was predicted too soon, amongst the dot.com noise and before the infrastructure and consumer technology was available to support it.

After the dot.com bust, many broadcast executives felt that they had weathered a storm by repeating a mantra of television will never be replaced by the Internet.  Why?  Because more content can be driven out via traditional broadcast infrastructure than the Internet, with its famous QofS problems, could ever hope to handle. 

And yet iTunes is offering video downloads (to be watched on a teeny tiny screen) and Apple is scooping television's only revenue source:advertising.  No wonder affiliate stations are upset that the broadcast parent is giving content to Apple.  What the parent company said would never happen is happening.

Also making news today is that NBC Nightly News will now be available on the Internet after it has aired on TV.  Why is this important?  Most public broadcasters including the BBCand CBC already offer this.  Its news in the US broadcast market because again, it affects affiliates who will lose viewers as the parent gives content away.

My suggestion to Affiliate owners: Sell the equipment at their stations while its still worth something on an auction site.