Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, Internet Tools
NBC shows leave iTunes but join Amazon's Unbox
Here's a quick recap of the NBC/Apple tussle, for those who are tuning in late:- NBC says Apple is mean and won't renew their contract ('These shows are my toys and I'm going home!').
- Apple says NBC is a stupidhead, and NBC's shiny new shows won't be available in iTunes ('How are those toys now? Taste a little better with the salt from your tears, NBC?').
- NBC and Amazon become BFF's. NBC no longer makes eye contact with Apple when they meet in the hallway between classes.
NBC went with Amazon, reports the New York Times, because Amazon agreed to be flexible with pricing. This translates to higher prices for more recent shows, with the back catalog being cheaper (which is what I assume NBC wanted Apple to do all along). Amazon Unbox will also offer up free previews of NBC's upcoming shows, as well as a discount for people buying whole seasons worth of shows (does any of this sound familiar?).
The coolest part of all this is that you can download these shows to your Tivo, though if you have a Tivo why wouldn't you just set it to record these NBC shows for free, like Nik suggests?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chris Harrison said 7:27AM on 9-05-2007
I just wanted to take the time to thank NBC for saving me the $40 I would have spent on Heroes Season 2. Sorry Amazon, but Unbox is not a viable solution at all. At this point I don't care if it's NBC's fault or Apple's. All I know is, money that they could have had, won't be.
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duscrom said 7:28AM on 9-05-2007
FIGHT THE POWER!!!!!
Good show NBC, Apple's Monopoly needs to be challenged. So it won't work on iPods, that leaves the other great, inexpensive and innovative Non-iPod DMPs out there.
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the1bigboy said 7:29AM on 9-05-2007
"NBC and Amazon become BFF's. NBC no longer makes eye contact with Apple when they meet in the hallway between classes."
Near spat out my tea, thanks for that!
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Jc said 7:35AM on 9-05-2007
Twice da price
At Least Three times Less users
No iPod Support
No Mac Support.
= Disaster! NBC will probs wanna come back to Apple.
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manish said 7:51AM on 9-05-2007
if they get back together, i wonder if NBC will wear Apple's varsity jacket?
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nv2900 said 8:14AM on 9-05-2007
LOL... Nice comments so far. Basically, WTF is NBC doing. I have great iTunes Store connection now. So happens that my BitTorrent is doing better with my ISP. Hmmm... let me buy BattlestarG and .... oh wait... NBC doesn't want my money. *hint: I am not in the US but I have legal access to the iTunes US Store*... Amazon Unbox, well, sorry, I'm not going to pull out my PC just for that. For StarCraft2, NeedForSpeed:ProStreet, hell ya. Unbox? Hell no.
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Matteo said 8:05AM on 9-05-2007
Now, dear Apple, you don't have any further excuse not to implement DVR capabilities on AppleTV (via a USB device like Elgato's).
Now, dear Apple, you should seriously think about selling, for the content providers who still have contracts with you, HighDef content... Unless, of course, NBC stood back because they invested a lot of money in one of the HD disc formats and don't want to cannibalize those.
My personal opinion is that NBC and Apple in reality fought because Apple wanted to sell HighDef content on iTunes (that, in my opinion, is what Jobs hinted about when he talked about expanding functionalities on AppleTV (direct purchase of HighDef content from the ATV)). NBC and the others don't want to, because they invested loads of money in the "format war" (Blu Ray vs HD DVD) and still have the feeling that phisical supports are better to fight against piracy. So they didn't want Apple to release HD format video content. They are going to "rent it" (but Apple doesn't want) and provide crappy formats on other platforms (Hulu, Unbox, you name it) at the prices they want.
Apple, please allow us DVR functionalities on ATV and the like. You will sell a lot of hardware, which is what your declared primary focus is, and, in the meantime, screw NBC big time.
Phisical media is DEAD, regardless of new formats. Video content producers should get over it. Networks are becoming much faster, and people like to have their content on multiple devices. That is the future. But content providers are desperately trying to save phisical formats...
That is my take on the real reasons behind this "high school" dispute.
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nv2900 said 8:19AM on 9-05-2007
Again your stupidity confounds me, duscrom, I'm going to have to stop responding to your comments.
"2. FIGHT THE POWER!!!!!
Good show NBC, Apple's Monopoly needs to be challenged. So it won't work on iPods, that leaves the other great, inexpensive and innovative Non-iPod DMPs out there.
Posted at 7:28AM on Sep 5th 2007 by duscrom"
Yes, clearly NBC/Universal/Vivendi, a major global media corporation has suddenly decided to *do the right thing* and stand up to that other super evil, global media corporation dominating everything, that Apple, that... the evil Microsoft of the portable music and video player market.
Have you heard of DVDs that you can buy and rip and download to as many computers and iPods and non-iPods? Have you heard of DVDs you can rent much cheaper than iPod DRM videos you only watch once anyway?
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don synstelien said 8:43AM on 9-05-2007
What... doesn't everyone think that using Amazon will be better than iTunes?
Think about it... We can watch these shows on our Zunes now!!!
That's Awesome!!!
:-P
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duscrom said 8:43AM on 9-05-2007
nv2900:
That works for iPods as well.. so that argument is rather stupid.. On top of that NBC makes actual profit from DVDs instead of Apple getting most of the money.
I'm against Monopolies, I'm against dealing with Uninformed people who think that iPods are different from MP3 players.. and are convinced that they are somehow better then the lower priced Creative Zen or Sandisk's Sansa products. IE. Sansa Connect, which uses the WiFi thing, and makes good use of it. Nothing against Apple personally, but Simply put I won't be a sheep. iPod was a great product that mad DMPs a big deal, but there is much better, more innovative products, available for similar or lower prices.
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Mary said 8:56AM on 9-05-2007
Scott I've been really enjoying your recent posts, good to see them coming along more often. This one was informative and made me chuckle at the same time. Hopefully more bloggers on this site will start to follow your lead...
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Kevin said 8:58AM on 9-05-2007
So rather than offer up TV Shows to the largest digital media retailer, you go with a service that not only doesn't work on the growing Mac platform but also doesn't work with the largest personal media player on the planet? Sounds like a good business decision to me! NBC needs to get detention and 6 months of study hall for that one.
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Ozbone said 9:10AM on 9-05-2007
NBC is nuts to do this ... they're trading the largest media market (iTunes) for fatter margins and a virtually unknown distributor. Yeah NBC, you're tough! But you're also stupid.
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coded said 8:13PM on 9-05-2007
NBC is the schoolyard whore.
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Quix said 9:28AM on 9-05-2007
duscrom = bitter troll (or shill). Please disregard accordingly.
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Nathan said 10:00AM on 9-05-2007
I can only imagine that some people might have started some mass downloading at the news of the split. What happens if people had downloads in transit?
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John said 1:51PM on 9-05-2007
"On top of that NBC makes actual profit from DVDs instead of Apple getting most of the money"
duscrom,
This is most certainly UNTRUE. I know of organizations that sell media through iTunes, and Apple takes a very small sliver off of the top. In fact, it's well known that Apple really doesn't make a lot of money from iTunes- it's their hardware (Macs, iPods) that makes their money. Check your facts before you post more nonsense.
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Johnny Thrash said 10:20AM on 9-05-2007
@10 umm hello, they are better, that's why everyone owns one.
I already tried the Microsoft DRM and Napster to Go and Rhapsody to Go and Windows Media Player... and I can tell you straight up... The iPod IS better, easier, more reliable... and 100 more adjectives for the "better."
Obviously you don't own one.
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NewGuy said 10:40AM on 9-05-2007
duscrom:
Ignorance must be bliss for you. You make no sense with your comment in #10. Let's take a closer look. "I'm against monopolies". Dude, do you even know the definition of a monopoly? If this were one, then you are actually blowing the horn FOR it since Amazon Unbox would be the SOLE provider of that service.
"I'm against dealing with Uninformed people who think that iPods are different from MP3 players.." Hello??? They are different from other MP3 player, just as those are different than iPods. -DUH-
"Simply put I won't be a sheep." Owning a Windows computer qualifies you as being a sheep, merrily bleating along, happily kowtowing to daaaaady Bill Gates' every whim..
NBC was just trying to get greedy, plain and simple. They went with Apple to begin with knowing that would reach the greatest amount of potential customers. They were fine with the original pricing, life was good, the customer base had grown, then greed settled in. Trying to be the bully, they attempted to push Apple into changing it's pricing structure to US, THE CONSUMERS. Apple pushed back and here we are. The bully left the playground and spoke of all the sales they had and how Amazon could make more $$$ if they agreed to NBC's flexible pricing structure. More $$$ for NBC, more $$$ for Amazon, more $$$ the consumer has to spend. Not going to happen, period, OR, in your perfect world, sales will rocket to new heights, Sandisk, Creative, and Microsoft can't keep up with demand for their players, and Apple's iTunes closes it's door because of the competion....
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Jon said 10:28AM on 9-05-2007
NBC is stubborn though. I don't think they'd want to admit they made a mistake until the last possible minute, which means they will probably shop it EVERYWHERE before going back to Apple.
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