New NBC shows are in iTunes Store (sort of)

Update: As our commenters have pointed out, the two premieres now appearing in the iTunes store -- although broadcast by NBC in the US -- are actually produced by other studios such as Fox and Warner Brothers. Since the online distribution rights are separate from the broadcast rights, it would seem that the content owners are more than happy to have their shows sold in iTunes. Unfortunately for fans of Heroes, Law & Order, The Office and 30 Rock, all those shows are produced by NBC/Universal and they are, as expected, not updating with the current season's content.

Original post: When NBC announced their intention to pull their content from the US iTunes Store by December, Apple promised to make that happen much sooner:

"Apple has decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September."

A few hours later, NBC stated that their new shows will be available in the US iTunes Store. Today, I found Journeyman [iTunes link] and Chuck [iTunes link], two brand new shows, ready to go. I bet other hits like My Name is Earl and The Office, which premiere on Thursday night, will also be posted.

Why? I imagine a boardroom conversation that sounded something like this:

NBC Exec. A: Heh. We showed them. We'll make a bundle on the new stuff and then, bam! We slam the door in December. Cha-ching!
NBC Exec. B: Um, sir? They're going to pull all of our stuff immediately. No new shows.
NBC Exec. A: *Wilhelm scream* B-But, they can't do that.
NBC Exec. B: It's done, sir.
NBC Exec. A: Damn. Get Jobs on the phone.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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Update: As our commenters have pointed out, the two premieres now appearing in the iTunes store -- although broadcast by NBC in the US --...

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Victory

Well, so if you are living outside the US (but have an American bank account) how do you watch House, Friday Night Lights, L&O and others?

October 09 2007 at 8:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

bob

Well for me the good news is that Avatar Season 3 is up.

It smokes most of what NBC has anyway..

September 27 2007 at 2:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Anthony

@ #30 - I'm really looking forward to the possibility that the studios do pull all their show from iTunes. I would love to see Apple start their own virtual network with iTunes as their distribution system. ^_^

September 27 2007 at 4:03 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

basscadet

maybe NBC is the first of many companies that want to take their content out of iTunes and (maybe) make their own outlets? Maybe we'll see some more add up, maybe we'll not, only thing we can do now is guess.

September 27 2007 at 3:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MuscleNerd

Will and Kevin Baxtin are completely correct with their comments.

TUAW apparently has no clue how Hollywood works.

September 27 2007 at 1:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Chuck is made by Warner Bros
Journeyman is made by Fox

NBC just shows these shows. I'm guessing WB and Fox Studios wanted these on iTunes. I don;t expect NBC produced shows to appear on iTunes. So no Heroes, Office, or 30 Rock.

September 26 2007 at 10:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ryan

Well if NBC doesn't put heroes up on iTunes we will just get it somewhere else... For cheaper... haha

September 26 2007 at 8:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

David Baxtin

You guys are morons. The contracts for these two shows that NBC has inked is actually controlled by Warner and News Corp. when it comes to digital distribution. This means that digital distribution is not that iron clad as some of the other NBC shows and Warner, in this case, can do distribution as it deems fit to make revenue (i.e. DVD, iTunes, etc). But TV rights are controlled by NBC for the U.S. market.

That being said, you have to be completely idiotic to buy crap on iTunes anyway that has DRM on it. At any point, if Apple gets into a fight with one of these companies, the show goes poof and your become a bag holder. I'd say, BitTorrent is the way to go. Torrent it with HDTV, AC3 sound, fast speeds, and you will be a happier person.

September 26 2007 at 8:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tim

This is NBC/Universal turning the tables on Apple.

Apple has to fulfill their contractual obligation through December. Since Heroes is already a hit, NBC pulled it as punishment to Apple. "No traffic for you Apple". They are only posting new shows that have yet to proven themselves, and by contract, Apple has to provide them. If Apple could just pull whatever it wanted to, why don't they just pull it all?

This goes right along with NBC/Universal offering higher bit rate, DMR free music on Amazon, at a lower price even. "No DMR free for you Apple". Apple is stuck with lower rate, DMR'd music at a higher price and no hit TV shows.

Not sure this will be a real negative for Apple since it's only NBC (for now), but the message is clear.

September 26 2007 at 8:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Will

@Will #28

Actually My Name Is Earl is Fox. Unfortunately The Office (And 30 rock for that matter) are NBC Universal.

September 26 2007 at 8:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply