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NBC Universal videos disappear from iTunes

updated 10:25 am EST, Mon December 3, 2007

NBC videos leave iTunes


As promised, NBC Universal's videos were this weekend pulled from the iTunes Store, leaving the site's video content considerably diminished. Material from the TV network and its affiliated companies once accounted for 40 percent of all video on iTunes, and included some of the most popular downloads, such as Battlestar Galactica and The Office, the latter of which was even featured in an iPhone keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The removal coincides with the expiry of NBC's agreement, which the company decided to let slip due to unhappiness with Apple's pricing policies. While NBC wanted to experiment with different schemes, such as bundles or a test pricing of $2.99 for a single show, Apple refused, insisting that it conform with the standard season pass/$1.99-per-episode format. NBC has launched its own competition through a joint venture, Hulu, but a number of major networks remain on iTunes, including ABC, CBS, Fox and Comedy Central.


by MacNN Staff

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 iTunes, NBC, Apple

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  1. Omek

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2002

    0
    12/03, 10:41am | report spam | Reply |

    Not the best decision

    Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens now. Universal is certainly going to see some numbers dropping.

  1. jarod

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2005

    0
    12/03, 10:50am | report spam | Reply |

    IDIOTS

    NBC = Nothing But c***

  1. Da Moof

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2006

    0
    12/03, 10:51am | report spam | Reply |

    And the other networks...

    And the other networks will thrive. SO many people got hooked on Heroes and The Office by watching them on their iPods. This is a huge mistake on their part. I download so much content from iTunes. Comedy Central, TLC, and Cartoon Network all have great offerings. Between iTMS and over-the-air, I have no need for cable TV anymore. Buying shows off of iTunes was very similar to pricing of DVD's without all the mess and inconvenience. I don't understand what the big problem is/was. I hope they come back, but if they think everyone should pay more for less, they can stay away.

  1. jlbanker

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Nov 1999

    0
    12/03, 11:06am | report spam | Reply |

    at least

    At least the shows that are on NBC but are not owned by NBC/Universal are still available like Scrubs, Chuck, Journeyman, and My Name is Earl.

  1. kerryb

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    12/03, 11:08am | report spam | Reply |

    taking my ball going home

    They have every right to do but will the others follow. This is going to be interesting to watch, more so then what is on NBC now.

  1. bojangles

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: May 2000

    0
    12/03, 11:13am | report spam | Reply |

    Good riddance.

    I haven’t watched anything on NBC for years. Everything’s either vile, pornographic, or both. Now the fact that some Sci-Fi stuff has been pulled kinda sucks, but I can’t imagine spending $1.99 on a single episode of an iPod-quality show, anyway. DVD-quality? Now you’ve got something, but not as is. Sorry….

  1. climacs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

    0
    12/03, 11:15am | report spam | Reply |

    dept of cutting off your

    nose to spite your face.

    Well, I guess it's Universal's job to maximize revenue for shareholders. So I can't fault them for that, but it simply isn't going to work. iTunes is where it's at. Hulu will join all the other online music/video stores in the scrap heap and in the future Universal/NBC will have to come back to iTunes.

  1. Smurfman

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2001

    0
    12/03, 11:16am | report spam | Reply |

    Using iTunes/not cable TV

    Our family doesn't subscribe to cable for numerous reasons, so iTunes has been great for us. We download what we want, when we want. Heroes -was- one of those shows we downloaded.

    I checked out NBC's online offerings recently and HATE them. They absolutely STINK. They don't understand the benefit (and simplicity) of iTunes and the direction many, many consumers are wanting to go.

    iTunes makes it easy to find and download great quality content, -keep it for later viewing-, without commercials. I don't want to go to this or that site to find the content I'm looking for and then have to watch a commercial or two when I finally do find what I'm looking for and endure a sub-par streaming video.

    Those behind this NBC decision really are not smart. Hopefully they'll get their act together and come back around. I do believe Apple could provide a little more incentive for these studios to offer content on iTunes and think Apple should consider a small percentage of iPod profit depending on the percentage of studio's content being bought by consumers on iTunes.

  1. mullum

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2007

    0
    12/03, 11:25am | report spam | Reply |

    whatever

    all this serves to achieve is more and more people downloading free torrents ! hurrah ! more seeds and more peers !

  1. robttwo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2005

    0
    12/03, 11:28am | report spam | Reply |

    hulu my a**

    NBC can't even do what it's suppossed to do - how is it going to figure out how to run an on-line media distribution outlet - esp with more difficult access to iPods now?

    Doofuses.

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