NBCU: We won’t be leaving iTunes until December
Cory Bergman August 31st, 2007
This keeps getting more interesting. NBCU says it “never asked to double the wholesale price for our TV shows” as Apple asserted in a press release earlier today. And that’s not all. “We want consumers to know that all our returning series, including new episodes, will be available on iTunes through the remainder of the contract, which expires in early December,” a NBCU spokesperson said.
Apple said earlier that it had “decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September.” An Apple spokesperson later clarified that NBCU content from prior seasons will remain until December. So it looks like all of NBC’s existing series will be updated with fresh content through December, but new series will not make an appearance. Meanwhile, the NBCU spokesperson said the network is “hopeful” that an agreement can be worked out before the contract expires.
7 Comments Add your own
1. discreet_chaos | August 31st, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I’ve never read their agreement, but Apple couldn’t unilaterally decide to stop selling NBCU’s product distributed under contract, so it makes it kind of hard to take their other claims seriously.
2. Rick | August 31st, 2007 at 8:26 pm
There’s obviously much more to the story than what we’ve heard so far publicly.
But I suspect that some of NBC’s attempts to find new distribution channels (and higher pricepoints) is driven by the possibility of a writer’s strike next season. It’s primarily a dispute over payments for online distribution. And no matter how you slice it, $1.99 per episode doesn’t leave much for the writers and producers.
3. Joe | August 31st, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I think it looks like Zucker is already starting to blink HARD. I expect NBC will be say “I’m sorry” and be back on iTunes with its new shows shortly.
4. Mike | September 1st, 2007 at 7:32 am
Even if the wholesale price would double, I find Apple’s logic pretty hard to follow. The retail price would increase 150%? (1,99->4,99). Nonsense of course, Apple’s overhead would remain exactly the same, so this is pure negotiation tactics, and not very clever at that.
5. Steve Safran | September 1st, 2007 at 8:07 am
I do believe they are fighting this out on Lost Remote…
6. Tim | September 1st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
The press releases talk of wholesale pricing differences. Can Apple not choose to carry a NBC show (if pricing or content is objectionable) by not “buying” it? Perhaps they can unilaterally choose to stop selling new episodes from the upcoming season. If you cannot take Apple’s claim seriously, how do you begin to take NBC seriously in lieu of the claim Apple is responsible for the pirated content on your ipods and computers? Did they put it there? We will see by September 24 when the lawyers get involved alleging contractual rights. By the time that it is settled, the season will be over, NBC will have lost another million in lawyers fees. Maybe two.
7. fleetwood mack | September 3rd, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Are we forgetting here the NBC/Newscorp about-to-launch and oddly named service.
First you all thought it was the anti-YouTube. But maybe it’s the anti-everything play which allows them to sell what they want and give a piece to only they choose.
Think about. it
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