Apple, NBC can't agree on iTunes pricing for TV shows

And as a result, Battlestar Galactica, the best show in this galaxy or any other, may disappear from iTunes. Frak! Link to NYT story. (thanks, George Ruiz) Update: Apple strikes back. Link.

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Anonymous

“….and it rhymes with itself”?

Doesn’t every word rhyme with itself?
Anonymous

I was happy to pay $1.99/episode for the first 3 seasons of BSG on iTunes. i was trying to support the show so it wouldn’t get canceled while I was still enjoying it.

Now I guess I will have to settle for paying $0 for torrented, DRM-free episodes. That and I won’t have to use bloated, resource-hogging, battery-killing iTunes to play videos anymore.

How long are these bozos in the entertainment industry going to get away with treating their customers like something unpleasant they just stepped in? Consumers don’t want DRM, which is a gross misnomer anyway. At least be honest and call it DCF (Digital Consumer F—ing)or something. Anyway, I intend to avoid purchasing crippleware and defective-by-design hardware as much as humanly possible. If that entails brushing up on my linux skills and watching exclusively torrented media, then so be it.

-disgruntled ex-customer
Anonymous

We’ve seen Cory write that the studios attacking Napster was their undoing because it unleashed bit torrent. They should have instead worked with Napster and convert to a pay per download approach. People would have paid for that.

It seems NBC hasn’t studied history. I spend a lot of time overseas, and I bought both Heroes and BSG last season on iTunes. Where will I turn now? Hmmn?
Anonymous

This is becoming quite a catfight. NBC now says that they did to explore alternative biz models. This is a growing trend among media entities. I am sure more content producers will go down this route. Apple does have a monopolistic position in the online media commerce, which is not conducive to these media entities.

Also this will allow alternative business models and may make content cheaper for us consumers. Universal did the same.

Read more of my thoughts here:
http://abhishek.tiwari.com/2007/09/02/growing-ihate-for-itunes/

Abhishek
Purly

… while I couldn’t care less about Battlestar Galactica, I’m sure there are plenty of other shows I will miss.
Anonymous

that’s why there is bittorrent!

idiot studios…
Anonymous

Feeling shafted by NBCâ€™s proposed $4.99 an episode price hike that got their new fall season kicked out of iTunes?

Kevin Wick has been kind enough to look up the contact information for the NBC Executives that are key to getting this situation reversed.

Amy Zelvin, NBC Universal Digital Media Communications, (212) 664-7436 amy.zelvin@nbcuni.com
Joe Libonati, NBC Universal Television Group Publicity, (818) 840-3050 joe.libonati@nbcuni.com

(edit) Some additions-

Jeff Zucker, President and Chief Executive Officer, NBC Universal (212) 664-4444 jeff.zucker@nbcuni.com
Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman, NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio ben.silverman@nbcuni.com

Now, please donâ€™t call these people and threaten them, cuss them, or yell at them. Thatâ€™s not going to get anything accomplished.

If, however, you want to politely let them know how you feel about their suggested price increase, and subsequent removal from iTunes, it might actually have some affect.

If enough people call, NBC just might listenâ€¦you never know.
Anonymous

nbc has a new site, hulu.com, where they’ll be offering BSG and their other shows. It’s a fox site, as well.
fungible

From hulu.com:

“Why Hulu? Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we’re building. Our hope is that Hulu will embody our (admittedly ambitious) never-ending mission, which is to help you find and enjoy the world’s premier content when, where and how you want it.”

Oh good lord. Corporate people are idiots.
Kaiser

Frak indeed. What a strange way to run a business.
Anonymous

From an article I just read it said that NBC wanted apple to pay twice what it was paying now for the shows (wholesale) … which would’ve resulted in the price going up from $1.99 to $4.99 … which if you ask me, no TV show episode is worth 5 dollars.
Robbo

And, as reported today in the Globe & Mail, Apple has fired back at NBC saying they won’t wait for the contract to run out – they just won’t carry any of the new season’s shows.

Ouch. It looks like last place NBC has just flushed their ability to leverage online content via iTunes to promote their upcoming season. NBC had been asking for more than double the wholsesale price – which would have put the cost for users up from $1.99 to $4.99. Apple, of course, says: It ain’t gonna happen.

Poor NBC – maybe someday they’ll get it.

Here’s the Globe article link:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070831.wgtnbc0831/BNStory/Technology/home/
Mike

I wonder if they’ll pull a Google Video: Make all the previously sold video unplayable via DRM.

Does anyone know if iTunes video DRM can do it?
Anonymous

Anyone know what the heck “NBC Universal also wants iTunes to stiffen anti-piracy provisions so computer users would not have easy access to illegal downloads” specifically means?
neven

Mike: the terms of the FairPlay license are such that Apple can’t make already purchased content unplayable for the end user. Why do you think they would do that anyway? With Google, it was a matter of the whole project being scrapped.

I wonder if the genius at NBC who went into negotiations with this sort of demand now has a plan for making up the generous-margin profits from iTunes sales.