Apple to stop selling NBC Television shows

I will simply stop watching NBC shows. I already ditched the TV, and can't be bothered to buy things on DVD. They have some good shows, but TV just isn't worth the effort they are trying to put me through. Oh well, too bad for them.

So long as I have my Daily Show and Colbert Report (they aren't somehow related to this? I think it would have been bigger news), then even some o my favoriets (House, Heroes, and BSG) just aren't worth their hoops.

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To: ben.silverman@nbcuni.com
Subject: iTunes Contract
Sent: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 23:02:05 -0700

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I was buying most of my shows from iTunes... now I will have to go through bit torrent... not that they lose money because i download them... I pay for cable access and I am not a nelson family. good job NBC.

great. no office season four on itunes, that SUCKS. **** you nbc!!!!

Typical NBC Universal, no understanding of their customers and a decided lack of savvy with negotiations. No wonder Jeff Immelt wants them out of the GE empire. Those guys will manage the business into the toilet.

If NBC had half a sense, they would price the episodes (preferably in HD) at 25 or 50 cents a piece to see if demand shoots through the roof. For $5 I can buy a used DVD from blockbuster c'mon NBC, welcome to 2007.

The content providers are silly to think Apple really cares. As has been stated numerous times, Apple hardly profits on iTunes sales. Their profit comes from the hardware... and Apple doesn't truly care how you get your content. NBC is silly to think withdrawing their content is anything close to a pain point for Apple.

What a ridiculous post, and bunch of (generally) dumb-ass comments. Who knows what margin Apple is making on these shows? What NBC wanted to do was to increase what it gets from Apple for each sale. Apple has disingenuously responded by (presumably) insisting that it must keep the same profit margin. NBC would not have discussed the retail price of the show, only its take. Apple is using its typical bully-boy tactics here - adjusting revenue shares is absolutely usual some time after the launch of an experimental service, but it seems that Apple's only response to this is 'screw you'. And so, we the consumers, are the poorer.

Considering that a good chunk of NBC's shows (including Heroes) is available online via streaming from NBC's website, it's not a huge loss for consumers. You'll have to deal with commercials and you can't watch it on your iPod, but I think most Heroes fans will manage.

I cought up on all the office episodes on sidereel.com but now it sucks, the episodes lake 2 hours to load! GOod thing I watched them when I did...

Mark d-

And now shows that were popular downloads like The Office and Heroes will direct people to Hulu rather than iTunes. Maybe the whole thing will fail, who knows, but from a business perspective the only way it would ever succeed is if it's the only way to find this content.