Apple Won’t Air Fall NBC Lineup On iTunes
Posted September 1, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
First, NBC said they were going to pull programming of all their shows and networks from the Apple iTunes online market. Apple quickly responded by saying they would cancel NBC’s shows immediately, so they wouldn’t interrupt viewers mid-season.
The dispute comes from the computer company’s claims that NBC wanted to increase the cost of individual episodes from $1.99 US per show to more than double at $4.99.
NBC says that isn’t the case and they simply wanted to repackage shows and prices.
“We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers.”
So instead of cutting off NBC programs in the middle of the season, Apple decided to stop before the new fall episodes premiere next month.
But NBC insisted that Apple is contractually obligated to offer new episodes of returning programming, shows like “Heroes” and “The Office,” through the end of December. Apple could only refuse to sell new series like ” The Bionic Woman.”
The broadcasting corporation says it never asked to double the wholesale price of its programming. The network says it was most interested in the flexibility to package its shows in different ways at different prices.
“It is clear that Apple’s retail pricing strategy for its iTunes service is designed to drive sales of Apple devices, at the expense of those who create the content that makes these devices worth buying,” stated NBC Universal spokesman Cory Shields.
NBC Universal has also partnered with News Corp. to create a new video site, Hulu.com .
Photo by Apple via Getty Images
