Okay, this screed by Dan Lyons is funny, but also makes some good points about the viability of the video download model. As Fake Steve, Dan is quite negative about what NBC is doing, as a consumer, I think it's a smart move. Two points:
1. The devil is in the details -- NBC needs to make this pretty painless (ie not requiring a huge downloaded player) and hide the DRM in such a way that it is NOT VISIBLE to people.
2. Search is the great equalizer. This is just as much about YouTube as it is about Apple; the question is if it as easy as someone to watch NBC shows (or ABC) on ABC or NBC as it was on iTunes or YouTube, what is the value of those other services?
My prediction: YouTube is the one at risk here if NBC is successful, not iTunes.