Word has come out that NBC is not going to renew its contract with Apple, which means shows for the upcoming season are not going to be up for purchase on the iTunes store. Apparently, the sticking point was pricing. Accoding to Apple, NBC wanted to more than double their per show price, meaning purchasing an NBC show, like The Office, would go from its current price of $1.99 to $4.99.
Apple says:
“We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers.”
NBC says:
“It is clear that Apple’s retail pricing strategy for its iTunes service is designed to drive sales of Apple devices at the expense of those who create the content that make these devices worth buying,” NBC Universal exec VP of communications Cory Shields responded.
This is troubling news for me. I have purchased many episodes of The Office for my iPod. If what Apple claims is true, I think NBC is way out of line. Much of The Office’s popularity can be traced back to iTunes. The Office, altough brilliant, is a low rated show! But on iTunes, it is consistently one of the most downloaded programs. This coming season there will be 30 episodes, which means purchasing them all for $4.99 each would cost almost $150.00 dollars! That’s $150.00 for a show that you can watch on tv for free.What a joke. Thanks NBC, glad to see you appreciate your fans.
Check out the story on Variety.com and let me know what you think.
Editor’s Note: It looks like NBC will not be leaving its loyal fans in the dark. According to < a href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/08/nbc_cancels_itunes_tv_show_dea.php">TVWeek.com this decision to to renew has a lot to do with NBC starting its own downloading service where they can keep the price of the show down for the fans and keep it available!
This post was Authored by Joe Purcell, Our Resident Authority on all things The Office
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:18 am
Joe
I really don’t get the argument from your POV. I side with NBC on this one. As a business owner and property rights owner, one should be able to charge what they see fit for their content. Their clientelle will pay for it. If not, the price will come down. Seeing a 30 episode season marketed at $150 is not unreasonable. Try buying the old cartoon versions of Transformers. You were over $100 for half a season (12 shows) even before the movie came out!
As for the argument above, think of this: To use I-Tunes, you buy an Apple product that is SERIOUSLY WAY overpriced for what it does. Plus, your content purchased is only used on an I-Tunes capable unit, which hinders your clientelle to only buy that type of unit. You are creating a monopoly. If you open the playing field up and allow any video product to play your program, you create a higher potential for clients’ purchasing your product (let’s not argue the pirating aspect here). Also think of this: even though there’s a large demographic of people using I-Tunes and I-Pods (etc) for the privilege of being cool (10’s of million of users?) think of the potential client base you ACTUALLY have in Canada and the US alone, where there’s 300 Million people?
Personally, I think the NBC argument holds more validity than the Apple one does, even if I don’t agree with the pricing. It is within NBC’s right to charge what they see fit, because they know what is right for their pocketbooks. Afterall, does Apple allow anyone to copy their property and distribute it at a “below market value” (as they see it)? Not bloody likely.
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Rodney, I quote you: “NBC starting its own downloading service where they can keep the price of the show down for the fans and keep it available!” Yeah, good luck with that.
Keep the price of the show down? Are you kidding me? You think that’s what NBC wants? They’ll keep the “price down” by making the videos ad-driven, which is fine…their prerogative.
The information released about hulu.com states that you’re only going to be able to stream The Office on your computer, with commercials intact that you can not skip. You won’t be able to download an episode to your drive. You won’t be able to sideload an episode onto your iPod or iPhone or any other mobile device. You won’t be able to do anything with it but sit in front of your PC and watch the entire episode in a single stream. Not exactly the iTunes experience.
Good luck with this wonderful new service. In the meantime, if NBC doesn’t want me to see their shows where I want to see them, on iTunes, then I won’t be seeing NBC’s shows, which is a bummer because I really like Burn Notice, and The Office is a great show.
September 3rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Godfather,
Thanks for the post. This is one of those “agree to disagree” deals. I view the current situation as a win-win-win arrangement. Apple wins by selling programming through itunes, NBC wins by making money when itunes sells that programming and the consumer wins by being able to purchase reasonably priced shows to view at their leisure.
And I agree with you that as owner of The Office NBC can charge whatever they want - but that doesn’t mean they should. $150 is not a reasonable price. You can purchase the first three seasons of The Office on dvd for $65.00 total and the entire Brittish version for $40.
Hopefully, somebody will blink and things can be worked out.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
The good news is that The Office was on TBS last night at nine or ten o’clock. Two episodes ran, kicking off with the first ep from the first season. So tell me, is going to be on in syndication already on TBS? Can I look forward to Tuesday nights with this funny show?
September 13th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Yes, The Office is now in syndication on TBS! The other good news is that BBC America is running the original Office again. For anyone who hasn’t seen the Brittish version, check it out - it’s awesome.