By SN
Tuesday September 9, 2008
Tech Dirt – September 9, 2008:
NBC Universal keeps realizing after the fact that making it more difficult to find your shows is never a winning strategy. So, almost exactly one year after refusing to re-sign Apple’s iTunes contract, claiming that it wanted to charge higher prices, it appears that NBC has realized that it needs Apple and iTunes more than Apple needs NBC. 
Among the various announcements coming from Steve Jobs at the Apple press event this morning, the most interesting may be NBC Universal’s capitulation and return to iTunes. For years, people have been explaining to NBC that the more places and ways it makes its content available, the better, but NBC has struggled with that concept, preferring to control every aspect of its shows. At least it’s starting to step back from that position.
This whole feud was bizarre. Over the last year NBC accused Apple of supporting piracy with its iPod and that NBC would not deal with Apple until its piracy concerns were addressed. That made no sense. How does NBC pulling out of a legal service such as iTunes help stop piracy? All that does is force people to use bittorrent services to get NBC’s programing for free.
Update: Apparently, Apple made a concession and will let NBC sell its shows for less money. However, NBC was originally holding out for the ability to charge more on iTunes. So it’s a very minor concession on Apple’s part.
Here is the other side:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10036785-93.html?tag=nl.e433
The piracy issue was the long held “all mp3’s are illegal” that’s why the Zune pays us a cut.
Clearly the needs of the TV unit were hurt enough for corporate to allow a shift.
I think this shows that Hulu has proved to be a mildly popular money pit.
#1, what NBC wanted early on was to charge MORE, not less, and to force bundles. Sorry, you want My Name is Earl…well you have to buy Knight Rider too.
Whoever said people running networks were logical?
Thank the gods.. I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica on my Xbox 360 and it just “red-ringed” a couple of days ago. Now I can watch it on my AppleTV and won’t have to resort to swiping it from usenet, which I didn’t want to do, but was more than willing to.. to sate my hunger. Make it easy to get and not too expensive and people like me will pay for it. Season 3 here I come.
I watched part of Steve’s speech, and he said that “Battlestar Monk” was now available. Now that’s a show I’d like to see.
Watching BSG on Hulu was torture, even on my high speed connection. I would gladly pay cash for clear watchable episodes off iTunes. That’s what I was doing before NBC cut me off. Oh yeah, the T.W.i.T. podcast, I mean netcast, is too long. Go back to an hour.
#7, That’s why I prefer Tech 5. It better suits my attention span, plus it’s got all sorts of goofy sound effects.
lets question a few things, that NBC didnt.
Setting up servers, for MOVIES/SHOWS/UPDATES/SECURITY, and payment..Over what is ALREADY Up and running.
This is like trying to USE windows to make your OWN game server.
I HOPE you would have a REAL server, AND ALOT of power/space. A personal game server with windows runs about 4-8 people..
A DEDICATED SERVER, running Linux and NO CLIENT, can hit ALOT more people..
back on subject.
SETUP and running a storage area for remote access? ISNT easy.
ASK CBS about the Olympics.. and 2200 hours of recordings.
“All that does is force people to use bittorrent services to get NBC’s programing for free”
Sorry to seem so 20th-century about this, but I already get NBC programming for free. It’s called a television set. If I want or need to save the program, or view it when I want to see it and not when NBC wants me to see it, I use that ancient device called a VCR. Cost: $0.
“Over the last year NBC accused Apple of supporting piracy with its iPod and that NBC would not deal with Apple until its piracy concerns were addressed. That made no sense. How does NBC pulling out of a legal service such as iTunes help stop piracy? All that does is force people to use bittorrent services to get NBC’s programing for free.”
This should prove that network executive live in there own weird little paranoid world, that has little to do with how the real world works. It’s a wonder that anything decent ever makes it on their broadcast schedules. And it’s no wonder that so much crap does. NBC canclled Star Trek back in 1969, to make way for the Apollo manned mission coverage. They, and other networks, doubtlessly felt these fictional adventures would out-class the real thing. So from 1970 to 1977 we stuck with the bionic man and woman (and dog). But no spaceships until BSG1 and Buck Rogers.
Apple can’t win shit in a crap storm.. They will at least continue to be the best of the worst.
What I want to know is why iTunes Canada is so far behind the air dates.
Example, I just grabbed Stargate Atlantis S05e07 from torrnets, and the latest available on iTunes is episode 5.
Lewis Black’s show is up to episode 6 or 7 as well, yet the iStore only has to the 5th.
I wouldn’t mind paying on a per show basis for these and a few others if not for 2 things:
The price is crazy. Paying $2 for a 22 min show, which is the same price as a 45 min show just doesn’t make sense.
Season sets cost just as much as the DVDs, but they are locked down a lot more. I can take episodes from a DVD and re-encode it to watch on my N800, but not what I paid the same amount for on iTunes.
I still don’t see why anyone would pay DVD prices for shows with no physical media, little distribution overhead and drm. I used to argue that the 320×240 rez was a ripoff but they’ve fixed that for most everything.
Same with the Xbox video marketplace.
Why am I paying as much or more for less product?
#12 – Spoken like a true mental midget – and Microsoft will continue to be the worst of the worst. Also, Pedro – ESAD!
Who needs iTunes when you have EZTV and Bittorrent? Plus it’s free with no commercials.
I’ve had an iPod for years. The content on my iPod is all from CDs that I own, or from free podcasts. No news from NBC or anyone else, no iTunes.
NBC needs a lot of help with it’s thinking. The are duke-ing it out with CNN, ABC, PBS and CBS for the smallest niche share of the liberally biased listener’s market. Meanwhile Fox news satisfies the needs of a market fully the sum of all the above without any competition.
I find it illogical that SUCH a group(the rich and powerful) could loose touch with those they WISH to advert to.
TO THINK that a rich person has such interesting IDEAS..
yOU WOULD THINK THEY WOULD TALK TO all THE ceo/BOARD MEMBERS AND SO FORTH…You would THINK that they would talk to TECH people and ask COSTS of doing it THEMSELVES..
Hmm..
haha how quick the tech community is to slobber up apple juice.
NBC won this battle…now, go wipe that apple juice off your face and try posting some real, unbiased tech news.
thks.