We told you a while back about NBC taking its shows off of Apple's iTunes service. And now NBC President and CEO Jeff Zucker has disclosed why.
In an interview with The New Yorker's Ken Auletta, Zucker says that NBC wanted to test sell episodes of one of their shows for the higher price of $2.99. He was even going to let Steve Jobs pick which show to test, but Jobs refused to let them do it. So all of NBC's shows are going to be pulled off of iTunes by the end of the year. According to Zucker, NBC's shows were responsbile for 40% of iTunes video sales last year but didn't make much money off of it.
Previously, Apple had said that NBC wanted to charge $4.99 for their episodes. NBC now has shows on Amazon's Unbox and launched their new Hulu service with FOX.
Zucker also said that he thinks that Apple has "destroyed the music world" because of the rates they have set up on the service. Something tells me Zucker won't be getting a Christmas cards from Jobs this year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-31-2007 @ 2:45PM
nerdstrap said...
Shows on NBC that aren't produced by NBC will still be available on iTunes! That's a big middle finger from Apple!
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10-31-2007 @ 2:47PM
jackoff said...
tv is free over the air and internet suckers
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10-31-2007 @ 3:27PM
DaveTehWave said...
In other news, vidoe is spelled 'video'.
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10-31-2007 @ 3:51PM
RickO said...
Zucker's a buffoon. A few years ago Napster destroyed the music world by enabling people to acquire music for free. Now Apple is the bad guy because it gave a lot of people a reason to pay for music again? And all the while studios built up their good will by blowing every opportunity to embrace the new media and instead taking anonymous college students to court. Brilliant. Morons like Zucker will never be satisfied until the studios regain control of the entire value chain. I guess it's up to consumers and artists to make sure they never do.
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10-31-2007 @ 3:53PM
SolidOni said...
good work Mr. Jobs, showing NBC that they are being greedy gets massive ups from me
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10-31-2007 @ 4:21PM
Shark said...
Zucker also said that NBC was only making 15 million off the deal with Apple. Hmmm, lets see:15 million in profit or people will torrent your shows illegally and you get nothing....
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10-31-2007 @ 4:25PM
tcc3 said...
itunes shows were too much already. They should not cost the same as a season of TV on dvd when theres no box, no physical media and lower quality.
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10-31-2007 @ 5:14PM
Christine said...
Destroyed music because of the rates? Yeah, 'cause $.99 is horrible when before no one paid for music downloads. The man's an idiot.
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10-31-2007 @ 5:16PM
Nusm said...
Fine, if you think it's too much, don't pay it. I would happily purchase The Office this season since they've moved the time slot and I can't record it anymore. But no, NBC is so greedy that they don't want my money every week. Only $15 million.... cry me a river.
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10-31-2007 @ 5:28PM
royce said...
Yeah, yeah NBC is greedy, everyone gets that. But Apple is just as equally greedy here, by establishing a set price people are not able to charge MORE. By that same principle they are also forbidden to charge LESS. This is why Apple was against it, because if NBC is allowed to charge differing prices, than iTunes might end up subject to free market rules. Apple is afraid that if NBC charges 2.99 for an episode of the office Fox could counter by charging .99 for an episode of Back to You.
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10-31-2007 @ 6:16PM
Oreo said...
NBC has shit for shows so screw them. Zucker is an idiot that shouldn't have anything to do with TV. My favorite part is the writers are going on strike because they don't get any money from DVD sales and stuff like this. So they refuse to give the writers a small amount of the money yet want more free money.
Screw you Zucker.
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10-31-2007 @ 6:19PM
Kelly said...
"Back to You" was free, and I still felt ripped off. That was 23 minutes of my life I want back.
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10-31-2007 @ 6:47PM
Colonel.Cool said...
I often buy shows on itunes, it looks great on my ipod touch and it is a way of giving some money to the authors when they really need it like Jericho. Still it is true that 1.99$ is a bit expensive and I really don't understand how Apple choose their TV shows. There is all the famous FOX shows even Family guy since few weeks exept the one i wanted the most : The Simpsons. They are available on hulu and on fox website for Free so why not on itunes ? :(
About NBC that's really sad because i would have buy heroes season 2 ... i'll kept my money
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10-31-2007 @ 6:56PM
metz said...
The big media companies were/are very concerned that they've let a single store "control" their pricing. They've decided that they need to fracture the market again for both audio and video, hence the deals with amazon and others. On the audio side the consumer benefits because big media is temporarily willing to let go of DRM in order to get people purchasing from alternative stores. No such thing in video but you can stream for free.
Apple has their business model, big media has theirs. Only time will tell if big media can break Apple or if the power of the iPod and other apple produced hardware is enough to bring them back to iTunes, hat in hand, willing to agree to the single price model.
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10-31-2007 @ 7:11PM
Eligio J Rosa said...
I would consider the anti NBC rants reasonable if it want made by Apple fanboys.
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10-31-2007 @ 7:37PM
Chris Garrett said...
@royce — your argument's slightly flawed, iTunes actually gives away numerous episodes for free, the recent premier of Prison Break season 3 for instance.
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10-31-2007 @ 7:50PM
royce said...
Giving away one pilot episode isn't the same as allowing content providers or the market to decide pricing. It's giving away the razor to sell you the blades. It is promtion and it has nothing to do with my argument.
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10-31-2007 @ 8:25PM
Jeffrey said...
WHO STILL BUYS SHOWS OFF ITUNES? I don't even have a freakin TV anymore I just watch'em online. Sites like networkreplay.com and tv-links.com have 100s of shows listed I'm not paying apple 1.99 or even a wooden nickle for something I can get for free...lol. Smart move NBC!
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10-31-2007 @ 11:55PM
Blair M said...
It doesn't really matter what the price is on iTunes because I refuse to pay for a video file with DRM restrictions or for a video file that, in no way, subsidizes future DVD costs.
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11-01-2007 @ 12:27AM
D Colin said...
So this is what I don't get--
NBC wanted to charge $2.99, Apple wanted to keep prices at the set $1.99 price. NBC didn't like that, so they then chose not to continue with Apple after their contract was up- Apple cut them loose early. Okay- then NBC put their shows for free on the NBC website and now with this Hulu. Plus they have Bionic Woman and Life on their sister channels (SciFi/USA). HMMM, why do you wanna charge more NBC, if you just give them away anyways. Doesn't make sense to me.
I think $2.99 is to expensive and wouldn't buy a 1/2 hour or hour show for that price. As it is, I'd only pay for a show at $1.99 every once in awhile. I've bought a few shows if I've missed it, or had DVR problems.
I don't have Apple TV so I'd still be watchin' it on my 17inch-- and I like my big TV so I only buy a show if I really really needed it. If Apple TV was cheaper maybe I'd buy that and then buy shows for $1.99 more often. But at this time I can find CBS shows ONdemand, Bionic Woman/Life on other channels, --and I have a DVR and two VCRs for those really busy nights. Plus cable shows re air all the time, so I wouldn't buy those shows. So sure it be great if the cost of a 1/2 hour was $.99 and hour $1.99-- but it's fair enough as it is -- but Zucker $2.99 is crazy
and Zucker-- I've never bought as much music until iTunes. I buy whole albums, and just by song. I still buy actual cd's if it's like Madonna or Justin Timberlake or someone I really want the packaging for. But he's crazy to think they destroyed the music world
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