Quote :

"Fans of "Heroes" or "The Office" will have one fewer catching-up option if they miss an episode of either show this season. Apple will no longer offer new episodes of NBC shows on its iTunes service when the 2007-08 season starts after failing to reach an agreement with NBC over pricing. The network's iTunes contract expires in December, but since that falls in the middle of the TV season, Apple opted to stop offering new episodes when the season starts in a few weeks. Episodes of NBC shows already on the download service will be available until the contract runs out. NBC had three of the top 10 shows on iTunes last season and was responsible for 30 percent of TV downloads from the service. "We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase," Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes, says in a statement. "We hope they will change their minds." According to Apple, it declined to pay "more than double the wholesale price" per episode of NBC shows, which it said would have increased the download fee by $3, from $1.99 to $4.99. NBC, meanwhile, has been angling for the right to package some of its titles for somewhat higher prices, The New York Times reports. The other broadcast networks, along with several dozen cable channels, still have deals with iTunes."

Is this a good move for NBC? I think it's a terrible idea for NBC to set up their own distribution. Instead of being able to download just one episode you may have missed you will be forced to buy 2 or 3 other episodes at a higher prices (I'm just assuming this is going to be the way it works). I also wonder if they'll stop showing episodes of 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights for free like last season. I missed the first 5 episodes of FNL but thanks to free showings I was able to catch up and I can't wait for next season.

9/2/2007 12:47:58 PM

Rumor is that they want to charge $5 per episode instead of $2 per episode and they want to bundle shit. In no way, shape, or form is this good for the consumer. NBC Universal is greedy as fuck.

They are also stupid. All it means is that fewer people will buy at the higher price, and nerds will just go back to torrents.

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 12:54 PM. Reason : It also seems somehow anticompetitive.]

9/2/2007 12:48:53 PM

$5 x 20 episodes in a season = $100. WTF

9/2/2007 1:02:10 PM

new season of heroes has 30 episodes too
so ha.

9/2/2007 1:50:40 PM

Apple: "You can't fire me, I quit!"
NBC: "D'oh!"

9/2/2007 3:55:20 PM

they wanted apple to charge $5 a show to keep it on itunes

that doesn't really say what they'll charge now that it's in-house

9/2/2007 4:00:50 PM

http://nbc.com
Watch Shows for free
[/thread]

9/2/2007 4:03:16 PM

yeah i wish i could watch the office for free on nbc.com

but really, i've got hd dvr and they rerun the shit

9/2/2007 4:16:20 PM

^^hey iphotouglychix retard...the conversation is about downloading tv shows to watch later...as in downloading shows to a Video Ipod...not watching a streaming feed of a show online...

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 4:18 PM. Reason : bb]

9/2/2007 4:18:15 PM

Quote :

"All it means is that fewer people will buy at the higher price, and nerds will just go back to torrents."

Nerds that care about picture quality never left torrents.

9/2/2007 4:20:39 PM

another reason why apple is a great company. They'd rather lose a contract that brought in 30% of tv show sales then screw its consumers over. Something tells me Steve Jobs isn't jewish.

Apple +1


-fanboy

9/2/2007 4:54:14 PM

Quote :

"http://nbc.com Watch Shows for free [/thread]"

that is a good point, but I think NBC might stop streaming shows for free if they go to their own distribution system.

9/2/2007 9:00:16 PM

^It's actually a crappy suggestion. The only good show they have for free online is 30 rock. Everything else is trash -- no office, no heroes.

9/2/2007 9:10:36 PM

they have heroes

9/2/2007 9:56:51 PM

I just checked. it says to buy the dvd

9/2/2007 10:12:12 PM

NBC also had all of Friday Night Lights at one point which I found to be one of the best shows available last year.

9/2/2007 10:43:23 PM

this shouldnt be a surprise. as the networks build their own infrastructure theyll outsource their sales less and less. its the same in many businesses. it does kind of suck though for ipod users.

9/2/2007 11:22:55 PM

got some back and forth going on between Apple and NBC now

http://daringfireball.net/2007/09/nbc_screw_up
(ars technica) http://tinyurl.com/2z326f

9/3/2007 2:39:38 PM

steve jobs should start another successful movie studio, merge with nbc universal, become the largest shareholder, and tell them to stfu

9/3/2007 2:52:43 PM

As much as it's popular to hate on apple, and I do at great length for good and bad reasons alike, it's actions like this that make you applaud the company.

Meanwhile, NBC is the dumbest group of fucks.. what the hell are they thinking?

9/3/2007 3:00:53 PM

Fake Steve Jobs knows what's up.
Hopefully Real Steve Jobs feels the same way
http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/09/boring-rant.html

9/3/2007 4:36:00 PM

Quote :

"NBC is the dumbest group of fucks.. what the hell are they thinking?"

i imagine they are thinking that they will sell the shows themselves and make 2x as much per show...

9/3/2007 4:40:21 PM

hmmm.... let's do the math.

$2/show * a lot of shows via iTunes = $Texas
$5/show * more than likely anemic sales via whatever hackjob website they put up != $Texas

9/3/2007 5:21:48 PM

From IMDB.com:

Quote :

"NBC, which has said that it will yank its television shows off Apple's iTunes Music Store at the end of the year, announced Monday that it would begin selling them immediately on Amazon's Unbox website (http://www.unbox.amazon.com). NBC said that it will offer a variety of packages but did not disclose pricing, except to say that an entire season of any series will be available at a 30-percent discount. While Apple has said it will not include any of NBC's new programming on the iTunes site, Amazon said Tuesday that pilot episodes of such new shows as Bionic Woman, Chuck, Journeyman, and Life can be viewed for free beginning Monday, September 10, and that new episodes will be available on the Amazon site the day after they air."

9/5/2007 4:29:08 PM

^^ Exactly. Have your shows being able to play on the worlds most popular media device with low overhead costs to you should be a no-brainer for them.

The iPod/iTunes juggernaut has a long line of foes it has left behind, and NBC is just lining up to be the next one. It may not be a coincidence that NBC is owned in no significant amount by M$ (that's Microsoft to the unwashed reading this).

9/6/2007 3:18:33 AM

NBC now in reruns because of the strike. I'm guessing that Jobs is happy he didn't cave to the threat of not having episodes to sell.

11/9/2007 12:09:39 AM

http://www.hulu.com

11/10/2007 4:55:43 PM

i think all this bs is stupid NBC is doing this in conjunction with universal just trying to bring apple down a notch or two. the problem is I don't understand why, I guess it's just greed. I don't mind paying 99¢ a song it seems fair, $2 a show seems fair too. $5? no way could I swing that. and the whole idea of having new songs higher seems ridiculous too, it seems like NBC/Universal wants everyone to steal music/tv shows. People I think will be honest for the most part when its a fair/viable practice... but if prices are outrageously high or if the stores are hard to use/hard to find they'll steal.

11/11/2007 9:30:11 AM

nbc also updated its site to allow some downloading of full episodes. however since i run firefox and osx i don't know if it's decent.

http://www.nbc.com/Video/

11/11/2007 3:19:28 PM

Quote :

"It may not be a coincidence that NBC is owned in no significant amount by M$ (that's Microsoft to the unwashed reading this)."

That is a terrible argument considering that Bill Gates owns a good portion of Apple (unless he has sold his stocks...).

11/12/2007 9:03:21 AM

i guess if you don't actually know anything you should state your belief as fact. maybe someone will believe you.

microsoft did buy $100 million of apple stock years ago. this was soon after jobs returned. apple had an influx of investment and guaranteed that ie would be the default browser. microsoft was also able to say that there is another os, and they're not a monopoly. (remember back when the government was prosecuting them before an administration change changed priorities? apple withering would not help.)

this was not gates's money. since it was stock, microsoft must have made $texas since the stock price has grown tremendously since then.

11/12/2007 12:48:14 PM

Congrats on the overreaction. GG

The point of my comment was that Gates/Microsoft (many ppl group the two together, I wasn't sure which it was and didn't care to spend more than 5 minutes checking) once had a portion of Apple stock. They may or may not still have that share (as denoted by my parenthesis). But, if you want, you can disagree with what I say then just go and restate the exact thing in a different way with history that is taught in Middle School.

11/12/2007 1:31:00 PM