Comments on: NBCU: We won’t be leaving iTunes until December

By: fleetwood mack

fleetwood mack — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:12:56 +0000

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

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 23:01:24 +0000

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.

By: Steve Safran

Steve Safran — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:07:54 +0000

I do believe they are fighting this out on Lost Remote…

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:32:34 +0000

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.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 04:12:56 +0000

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.

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 03:26:49 +0000

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.

By: discreet_chaos

discreet_chaos — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:50:59 +0000

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.