iTunes Partners Starting To Get Fidgety
from the let's-go-month-to-month,-please dept
It's no secret that the entertainment companies have been less than thrilled with the power position wielded by Apple with iTunes. They've tried -- and failed -- to force Apple to change its pricing (even though that sounds quite a lot like price fixing) and they generally seem upset that Apple is getting all the credit for revolutionizing the digital music world, while people look on the big entertainment companies as out of step with what Americans want while struggling to hang on to an antiquated business model. With that in mind, it wasn't all that surprising last month to see Universal Music refuse to renew its contract with Apple, preferring to go on the equivalent of a month to month basis. Universal Music also didn't include Apple in its trial of DRM-free downloads -- which is doubly amusing since it was only following the stringent demands of companies like Universal Music that Apple agreed to use DRM. Now it seems that the separate company NBC Universal is following the lead of its former sister company. The company is refusing to renew its iTunes deal for offering downloadable NBC TV shows. Of course, this news also comes as we inch closer to NBC Universal's own video website, officially named Hulu so hoarding videos for itself may be part of the strategy (which would be typical backwards thinking, but that comes as no surprise). It looks like, once again, we're basically going to have a totally fragmented market for online video. That certainly wouldn't be good for Apple, but it would likely hurt NBC Universal too. In the meantime, though, Apple may be facing a challenge as more companies fail to renew their contracts. Update: Apple seems to believe that NBC Universal needs Apple more than the other way around. Rather than waiting for NBC to pull its shows, Apple has apparently kicked them off.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: itunes, music
Companies: apple, nbc universal
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Give it a whirl.....
$1.99 a show x 4 weeks a month = $7.96
$7.96 x the # of shows you download a month = more than a DVR
The DVRs will even let you attach your OWN USB external drive so you can have more space to keep your tv shows and movies on.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Now technically, a real cost/benefit analysis of maintaining DVRs vs iTunes, would require taking into account the percentage of cost of equipment used to access the program (i.e. television, computer, iPod), the cost of access (i.e. internet, cable, OTA), and the feature difference (i.e. mobility, time-shifting, format restrictions, quality).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Hyphen
We humans are creatures of habit and numerous idiosyncracies with our buying habits. NBC is simply screwing the pooch on this one. I'll be waving goodbye to many of my iTunes shows and looking out for new ones from less STUPID companies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fist in the velvet glove is not
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
1st!!!!
... Hahaha, you lose.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Suicided
They weren't making enough money? Wait til the costs start skyrocketing for building a digital storefront from scratch with other companies whose every effort has been a spectacular failure.
And what is with this infatuation with variable pricing? Consumers don't want it. That's the last word. It doesn't matter what the provider wants to charge. If there is no market, it's a dead issue.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
NBC Shows
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Great Opportunity For NBC.....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dramatic rise in bandwidth seen by bit torrents. N
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Interesting play, Apple may have alternatives
I'm not sure mainstream america is ready for the risk of lawsuits that torrents bring, nor the long download times of any online distribution. Solutions like EyeTV and TIVO look more and more attractive.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Interesting play, Apple may have alternatives
Not sure about the Windows side, but Toast titanium 8.x has a tivo conversion utility. You just run an ethernet cable from your tivo box to your router/switch and import directly into taost for recording in various formats. This sounds like the path of least resistance. Bit torrents are too slow for me, I prefer direct ripping of whatever media. Let's see media tards catch that. BTW that stupid warning on every dvd really scares me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The real Headline...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/technology/31NBC.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1188705600&am p;en=c4b8ade2029b7acd&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Do people still watch NBC?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Do people still watch NBC?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
$4.99 per episode
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7BA124278C-AF65-49D0-A32D-2B4D0976 BAC3%7D&siteid=nbk&symb=
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Their Choice
I have a MacBook, and I download music and shows through iTunes. If the song/show is not on iTunes, then I don't buy it ( I did make an exception for the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Scott Walker).
But I don't need anything else enough that it's worth finding another outlet, unless it's YouTube.
And I agree with a previous poster, what does NBC have anyway? Other than occasionally Leno, I watch nothing on that network, and I wouldn't pay for Leno in any case.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dept. of Not Getting It
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Price fixing?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
apple has retaliated already
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
doh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]