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Posts with tag nbc-direct

Rumor: NBC and iTunes to make up, make money

We heard it from a guy (thanks, Jeff K!) who heard it from another guy who basically speculated from comments made by two other guys that, surprise surprise, NBC and iTunes are on the road to reconciliation. Ok, so it isn't really a surprise-- the odds are really good that as long as there is NBC and iTunes, they'll eventually end up together. There's been some posturing in their past, but really, both have way more to gain together than apart.

Not to mention that the NBC Direct service never quite panned out correctly. Of course, neither NBC nor iTunes is clearly hurting for one another. But there's so much benefit for both to make a deal that it's not hard to expect them back together by the time new Office episodes get back on the air.

NBC officially removed from the iTunes Store

Now that December has arrived and NBC's contract has expired, all of their content has been removed from the iTunes Store, as promised. That means no more Bravo, mun2, NBC, NBC News, CNBC, NBC Sports, Sci Fi, Sleuth, Telemundo or USA Network (Go ahead and look. We'll wait).

It looks like the two companies were unable to patch things up, not surprising considering their ugly, public fighting. Good luck to NBC with hulu and that wonderful NBC Direct service, which sounds great.

It requires Internet Explorer, the NBC Direct Player (Windows only) and the latest .Net framework. Videos are available for only 7 days after they initially air, and disappear from your computer 48 hours after you begin watching them (unless you remember to renew your license before then). Also, videos will only play on the computer used for the initial download.

Mac users cannot use the service, though NBC says a Mac version is "...planned for 2008." Finally, downloads cannot be transferred to portable devices.

Awesome.

[Via MacDailyNews]

TUAW Best of the Week

Our best posts of the week, all organized in one post for your perusal. Erica's passed the baton off to me for this edition yet again, and here we go.

Apple looks out for my best interests
And by that, Erica means they don't.

The state of the iTouch jailbreak
Is not good, unfortunately.

Metaliveblogging's Apple's "Mum is no longer the word" event
Is it wrong of me to wish every post from Nik started with the words, "Good morning, TUAW readers. London calling"?

Run widgets (kinda) on your iPhone
Erica's (kinda) hackaround lets you have a portable Dashboard.

Coming in iPhone 1.1.1, probably
A short look at what might be in the next iPhone update.

TUAW + iPhone turns your loved ones into pirates
Yaaar maties, Talk Like a Pirate... and look like one, too. Smelling like a pirate is up to you.

iTunes: Free Thursday

Including the Prison Break season premiere. I haven't seen it in a while-- is he still following that tattoo map or are they past that?

iTunes: Free Friday
More freebies, including a few frepeats (TM).

Radiohead ditches iTunes to keep album complete
Fighting for the consumer is great-- except when you're fighting against the artist?

Orange gets French iPhone in November
And our French readers say oui.

Mac 101: Three Dock tips
Get to know your Dock. All over again.

NBC to offer content, DRM via NBC Direct
NBC plans their own player, and no one cares.

Ask TUAW: Automounting a network drive, iPhone flash memory, XMP photo metadata and more
You ask, we answer. Coming soon: TUAW Direct, where you'll only be able to read our answers, and no one else's. Plus, special this week Ask TUAW, Round II.

iPod touch dark screen problems
Quality control problem messing up iPod touch screens? Lame.

NBC to offer content, DRM via NBC Direct

The latest news in the NBC/Apple battle? NBC is going to make their own iTunes. With blackjack! And women! In fact, forget the blackjack and the women-- they're calling it "NBC Direct," and a brand new player (not available on Mac for a little while, go figure) will be used to download and play television shows just as soon as they finish airing on television.

Sounds cool, right? What's the catch? The player is NBC only, and heavy DRM in there keeps it from playing anything else at all, including that scary "stolen copyrighted material." If you're going to use their player, you'll have to watch their shows, or else. I'd make a prediction that someone will hack it to play other stuff, but frankly, who cares. If NBC wants to go play in their own (non-Mac pool) let 'em, I say.

They also say that, in the future, they may even offer download-to-own, rental, and subscription business models. If only there was a well-designed, very established and compatible, widespread piece of software out there that let them easily do that right now. Oh well. Good luck, NBC. Say hi to Tina Fey for me, and tell her I'll see her on bittorrent.

[via MacRumors]

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