Valleywag
Money makes people crazy. When it comes to media conglomerates, the lust is insatiable. NBC Universal plans to pull its television catalog off iTunes by the end of the year. The marriage, initially, was lovestruck, with NBC crediting iTunes sales for boosting ratings of "The Office." But now, the grounds for divorce ostensibly include disagreements over piracy controls and pricing; Apple now says NBC wanted to charge $4.99 an episode. Some may speculate, rather, that the decision is fueled by NBC's desire to stock its own online-video site, Hulu, with shows. But the real reason for NBC's withdrawal is probably much less sinister.
NBC executives have most likely realized that the company can make more money off advertising than it can through selling content. And with shows popping up on file-sharing networks like BitTorrent, making shows free rather than charging for them makes more and more sense. While sales of television-series DVDs are a nice sideline business, they're nothing compared to what media companies make off of advertising. And the same is likely to prove true of TV-show downloads, too. Between making a pittance from consumers, on terms dictated by Apple, and making a bundle off of advertisers, NBC's choice is obvious.
Comments
I am a mobile professional. I don't watch TV at home, but I enjoy
staying up-to-date on my favorite shows by using iTunes in
whatever hotel/airport lounge/etc. I happen to be in between
flights.
I watch shows on my iPod when my MacBook Pro isn't
convenient.
According to NBC, I'm not the kind of customer they want. Well
off, well connected, and quality-minded. They'd prefer for me to
wait six months and uy a DVD set I'm never home to watch, or
watch the shows, riddled with ads, for "free" on their web site (I
guess I'll have to bring a book for those 4-5x monthly
transcontinental flights, where there is no Internet).
What morons the executives at NBC must be.
I cannot and will not use a Microsoft DRM-based solution -
they've switched strategies several times over the past three
years, while the first track I ever bought from iTunes still works.
I won't resort to piracy either, but face it; I have no interest (and
usually no time) to sit in a hotel room or my house and watch
programming, nor do I want to mash everything up on my tivo -
iTunes was a perfect solution - no commercials, easily
obtainable, watch anytime, anywhere - and NBC just shut it off
because they're greedy. Forget about the customer...
and making a bundle off of advertisers, NBC's choice is obvious.
So why are they selling boxed DVD sets of a full season for $3.00 less than a season pass on iTunes?
I don't think your logic holds.
@CaliforniaCajun: You act like they're screwing over a large demographic. The number of people who buy shows on iTunes is negligible.
TV shows and music are very different when it comes to replay value, so applying an iTunes-like model to TV won't necessarily work.
@sample032: You act like they're screwing over a large demographic. The number of people who buy shows on iTunes is negligible.
You've seen the retail number breakouts? It may not be a huge demographic, but it's a very loyal one, and a well-served audience that will have no recourse now.
TV shows and music are very different when it comes to replay value
That must be why I never see season-by-season DVD sets of popular TV shows for sale anywhere.
I dont get it. You can't sell advertising through file-sharing sites. You can probably save your existing advertising business by cutting iTunes. But then online piracy will increase.
So how can NBC make more money by not selling over iTunes?
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