When Apple announced the video iPod and the ability to buy television episodes and other videos through the iTunes Music Store earlier this fall, I took note, but did not feel in the least tempted, mostly because none of the handful of shows in that first installment interested me. With the inclusion of Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica series in the latest content additions, I'm officially worried that I might get hooked. It's obvious even from the scattering of episodes I've managed to watch on teevee that Galactica is tremendous, probably the best science fiction series since Babylon 5. Its complex, interweaving plots and rich, gritty characterizations stand up on their own merits; the fact that something this good could be built on the foundation of the schlocky 70s series of the same name is nothing short of miraculous. (Don't believe me? Even the curmudgeonly vidiots at TeeVee.org like it: "it’s a sci-fi series for adults that doesn’t shy away from dealing with big issues: God, sex, death, betrayal, obsession, self-denial… it’s all in there.")

Galactica is so good that I actually avoid watching it. I have a tendency to become a little, um, obsessive about series with complex multi-episode plotlines, and can get very cranky about not watching them all in sequence (this problem has plagued me my whole life: I'm still bitter about all the Rocky & Bullwinkle and Speed Racer multi-parts that I never saw in their entirety, and don't even get me started on Danger Island from The Banana Splits). And since I'm pretty sure I can't manage the kind of commitment Galactica would demand, I've been saving everyone involved the grief of beginning the relationship in the first place.

But the idea of being able to catch up on the series up to this point and then being able to watch new episodes at my convenience, now that's attractive. The videos available through iTunes may be low resolution, but they are also substantially lower in cost (at $1.99 per episode, the first season costs $25.87 on iTunes, vs. $44.99 [$59.99 list] for the Season 1 DVD at Amazon), and I wouldn't have to invest in a TiVo to keep my addiction going (though I would probably use it as an excuse to upgrade my first-gen iPod to a 60 GB video model). I'm not connoisseur enough to care about deluxe edition DVDs with commentary and bonus materials; I just want my plot fix at the time and place of my choosing, and Apple is willing to sell me that for two bucks.

I'm now convinced iTunes video is going to shake up television (and maybe, eventually, movies) in the same way iTunes music is doing to the recording industry. There's been some buzz lately about the FCC expressing support for "a la carte" cable channel subscriptions, but iTunes may make that issue moot by allowing consumers to effectively subscribe to individual shows. Just as people by the millions are willing to give up a little bit audio quality and put up with mild DRM for the convenience and pricing of getting their music through iTMS, I think there's an audience out there that doesn't care about as much about HDTV and letterbox formatting as they do about getting the shows they like in a convenient, decently-priced package (it would be nice, though, if there was a flat rate for complete seasons just like there is for complete albums).

Actually the impact of iTunes on TV could be far more revolutionary than its impact on music because virtually everything about (American) television is predicated on its current delivery model, in which advertisers rather than viewers are the real audience. If viewers were the direct consumers of television, much of what we take for granted about the medium, from its rigid formal and generic conventions (half-hour comedies and one-hour dramas) to industry strategies like sweeps week and time-slot competition would become unnecessary or meaningless. It could open the door to much greater diversity and innovation in the form as well as causing repercussions across other industries if on-air television starts commanding smaller audiences and becomes correspondingly less attractive for advertisers. Hmm. Those possibilities alone might persuade me to be an iTunes video evangelist.