Other companies and Apple's iTunes price war

I am the Oracle! I suggested this just yesterday.

"NBC Brings the Most Popular Word to TV Downloads: Free
By SAUL HANSELL
TAGS: APPLE, DOWNLOADS, NBC, VIDEO
Until now, you can download commercial –free TV shows from iTunes for $1.99. Or you can watch streaming versions free with commercials on computers connected to the Web.

NBC today offered a third logical option: free downloads with commercials. The advantage of downloading is that the video quality is better and you can watch shows on laptops or portable devices. The value of free is …well you know."

However, this is going to fail miserably. Why? PC only. You have to use special software. The shows expire after a week. No Mac support. No iPod support. They still just don't get it.

kapapo - your commensts are shortsighted. having lived in Australia for 6 years, what you fail to realise is that MOST of australian primetime is US shows, or shows from other countries that are broadcast in Australia. In addition, lots of music content is based on UNiversal, so them leaving the store not only affects the shows you watch, but also the music you can potentially listen to.

I would also probably ventur a guess that lot of the 'australian' content is produced in cooperation with large US entertainment companies like NBC/Universal, simply because they have the financing to produce these things.

Personaly,m although I did like some of the australian content (though blue heelers was off my list when dash left :), most of it is really poorly produced schleck with poor producton values.. Sorry, but that is my opinion.

@Whiplash, There are already many people disconnecting from Cable because they have more choice buying from iTunes; and they don't get commercials. If you put shows on iTunes with Commercials, Consumers would fast-forward through them.

Re: kapapo, Here in Australia, American TV Shows are purchased from FOX, ABC (America), CBS and NBC. The only way you haven't seen content from these providers is if you only watch ABC (Australia) and SBS (Which stands for Special Broadcasting Service, BTW).
Also, DVD Box sets of TV Shows are only available in Australia after they have Aired over here. You can buy Season One of Dead Like Me, but not Season Two. BSG Season 3 is still Unavailable.

So much for the Free-Trade-Agreement with the US.

Perhaps NBC just wants more of the per-sale fee? The price-per-episode is always going to be driven by consumers.

What I don't get is all the iTunes loyalty. iTunes runs ok on my Mac and runs like utter crap on Windows. Seeing that the majority of computer users are Windows based, I am thinking services like Amazon have a good chance.

Seriously, on a quite seriously outfitted gaming rig, Quicktime still has problems playing without odd jerks and jumps in the Windows environment where as the same file plays great on one of my aging macs.

I just don't see iTunes as being the end-all of all media delivery. Although the mac os is feeling more and more closed boxed every day for some reason, as a Apple user there might not be the choice.

I don't really understand the network's stance on this. Really, it's free money. They are producing the shows anyway. iTunes is simply one more way to cash in on a production that's already paid for.

You know, if it were me (being the media mogul I am), I'd give away the shows for free on iTunes, but include the commercials. Then I'd offer my advertisers the chance to run thier commercials on the iTunes version of the show.

Chad...
I dumped Satellite too (DTV's DVR sucks). If you have Mac, buy a Maglia HD mini and then you can record all the network shows digitally off-the-air. Maglia mini-HD then automatically outputs versions for Apple TV and iPod/iPhones. BTW, NBC announced a name change today, from NBCU to NBCFU.

People why would I want to purchase a tv show when I can either buy it as abox set or download for free, which is my preferred option. I am in the UK and download all the top tv shows well before they hit the UK and they are advert free, whichy is what i like. Just finished watching the Riches, which is excellent. NBC can take a running jump!

"What Apple fails to realize is that the producers really do set the price."

Actually I'd say consumers set the price. Setting a price is worthless until people pay it. DVD sets have set the acceptable price of tv shows. Given the restrictions of downloaded video you can't exactly ask for more money for a more limited product.

I don't see why Apple is catching heat for this. Like NBC, they are merely looking out for their self interests. Apple is where it is because they value consistency and simplicity in all their products (and iTunes Store is just another product). Maintaining the integrity of their product is more important to them than diluting it to suit NBC.

I like what another poster said: the iTunes store isn't a democracy and it ain't a co-op. If you don't want to play by the rules you are welcome to go somewhere else. But NBC is going to need a small miracle if they are trying to charge MORE for their products and sell them in a format that 70% of the digital downloads market can't even play.

Who exactly do they think is going to download this stuff?

@kakapo -

your little attempt to remind us that we arent the center of the universe is 100% irrelevant. thats like saying if the australian dollar fails, its ok, because we've never even SEEN one, so you should be able to get along just fine without it.

nbc/universal is huge, in fact, they are too big to not play with. i think they just had too big of seasons the last few (heroes, earl, office, scrubs, etc...) and now they want to throw that power around.

could they become the sony of the content world? and yes, im aware of sony/bmg, but im referring to sony electronics now allowing others to play nicely, paying a premium for less features and being treated like crap while paying for it.

sure im an apple fanboy, and right now id be willing to snap my fingers and do a little dance fight against nbc, but i honestly think apple will pull through on this. either at the last moment nbc will resign, or else people without cable/atsc will just miss their shows this year.

however, does anyone have any statistics on how amazon unbox is doing? i mean, are we blasting a program that is actually doing well? or are we justified with our claims that its not going to touch itunes?

and just to be snide, all the people who say 'thats my 2 cents,' there was a guy trying to be cool like that last week and he put 'thats just my .02 cents' not realizing he said it was 2/100s of a penny...

@chad:

http://ipodnova.tv

Go ahead and download those shows. NBC would have gotten their revenue, if they'd stuck around, don't let their bad decision ruin your entertainment.