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

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