New Yankee Website closing (temporarily?)

[Ohio Mike]

The  NewYankee.Com website posted this message this morning:

As of April 15th, 2018 
The New Yankee Website will close for alterations.  Although we expect to resume operations shortly thereafter, we urge our customers who want dvds or plans to order them before April 15th.

We appreciate your patience and patronage!

The message seems diplomatically worded.  I'm not sure we'll ever see them again.



Mike

[mound]

That is oddly worded..

websites don't have to "close for alterations" outside of brief downtime maybe while the new version is switched in place.

[johndi]

darn. Couple projects on the wish list.
Hope they re-open.

[giradman]

Well, I'm hoping that the NYW is simply updating or upgrading its forum software - that may take a few days - also, there may be changes in their presentation of products, i.e. irritates me at the excessive cost of buying a 30 min project on one DVD for about 30 bucks - why not combine a 'bunch' of episodes on a single disc or a combo of discs offered at a reduced price - if so, this would require more preparation - I would really look forward to this possibility - why not get 6-8 episodes on Norm from the late 80s or 90s on a couple of DVDs for $30?  Just some thoughts - Dave

[Gary G™]

SWAG:
If I bought this website, I would also provide notice of a potential outage.
There’s a good deal of e-commerce to change; plenty of opportunity to start introducing new “guests”, and other potential services.
I expect the time has come for Norm and Company to enjoy the rewards of a lifetime’s work.

[mvflaim]

Reminds me of when Popular Woodworking said they were going to take a year off for Woodworking in America a couple of years ago. We'll see.

[handi]

I would hate to see the resource wasted, but honestly, PBS has OFTEN made very poor decisions on show access and product pricing.

At one point, I could record NYW four times each weekend over two or three cable channels. PBS must have been making a lot off that, but stopped it for some reason. 

And while charging for project plans is not a bad idea in itself, having the price go up the longer the show has been off air is idiotic. PBS is still really the only major source of woodworking TV out there, but NYW is gone, that router show with the father and son is done now, PBS just replaced Tommy Mac on Roughcut, and honestly, Scott Phillips is largely a Woodcraft spokesman now.

Their biggest issue however is still distribution. Without being a paid PBS member, access to their content is far too restricted. I have been off cable for some years now and there are a number of PBS shows that my wife and I would watch, but using PBS for free though Amazon or Netflix internal apps is just not worth it, we can wait until it is eventually made free somewhere. 

For my show Woodcademy, I wanted as universal distribution as possible, and as many viewers as possible. In today’s economy, that means free to the viewer. That is why my viewers can download the project plans free any time they like. I plan ultimately to use sponsors as my main source of income along with other sources.

[TDKPE]

I have been off cable for some years now and there are a number of PBS shows that my wife and I would watch, but using PBS for free though Amazon or Netflix internal apps is just not worth it, we can wait until it is eventually made free somewhere. 

Can't get it free OTA in real time with an antenna?  DW watches a few PBS series (Call the Midwife, Downton when it was on, and such British period dramas), which we get via antenna and cable.  I'm vainly trying to convince her to drop cable by using the antenna for her shows whenever possible.  

[Bob10]

You can watch this on Youtube using Firefox and an add on app copy it to your machine or burn it on a disk

[handi]

Can't get it free OTA in real time with an antenna?  DW watches a few PBS series (Call the Midwife, Downton when it was on, and such British period dramas), which we get via antenna and cable.  I'm vainly trying to convince her to drop cable by using the antenna for her shows whenever possible.  

We have an antenna. It works OK at best. The real issue is that we simply no longer watch ANYTHING on a schedule. I simply cannot be bothered with organizing my day or evening around a TV show, ANY TV show. 

More and more, folks want to watch what they want to, WHEN they want to. PBS, and everyone else for that matter, needs to understand this and work with it or fade into oblivion.