“Here’s the latest advice from Silicon Valley to Hollywood: Don’t cheat on Steve Jobs and then ask him to split the proceeds from the video,” John Shinal reports for MarketWatch.
“That Apple will no longer distribute NBC television shows through its iTunes store should have surprised no one, of course,” Shinal reports. “The love went out of this marriage back in March, when NBC Universal formed a joint venture with News Corp. for a new Web-based video network to be distributed through Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s MSN and Time-Warner’s AOL unit.”
“The Apple-NBC story in a nutshell is that NBC Universal executives did a bad impersonation of Marlon Brando and made Jobs an offer that he couldn’t accept,” Shinal reports. “According to the release from Apple, NBC’s offer would have forced the Cupertino, Calif.-based company to raise the price of an episode to $4.99 from $1.99. Rather than wait until December, when the current agreement ends, Jobs slammed the door on the relationship.”
“The question now is who will be more hurt by the split,” Shinal reports. “Apple itself says that about 30% of its iTunes TV episode sales come from NBC shows, including some of the most popular on the site. That could ding revenue growth, but probably not profit, because Apple uses content as something close to a loss leader to spur iPod sales. For NBC, though, the divorce means it loses its best Web-based distribution tool before the joint venture with News Corp. is up and running.”
Shinal reports, “There is still no firm date for when consumers will be able to watch shows on Hulu, and the chances of it going smoothly are low, for at least three reasons.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Please see related article: NBC: Apple’s iTunes, iPod powering broadcast ratings for ‘The Office’ – January 17, 2006
Screw Universal. Nevermind, they just did that to themselves…
Tech Shizzle
Amen. This hurts Universal more than Apple.
“According to the release from Apple, NBC’s offer would have forced the Cupertino, Calif.-based company to raise the price of an episode to $4.99 from $1.99. Rather than wait until December, when the current agreement ends, Jobs slammed the door on the relationship.”
Five Bucks an episode?!?!?!?! That’s rediculous! I don’t know anyone with half a brain that would pay that much for 1 TV show. Two Bucks was bad enough (that’s around $44-$48 per season), considering most TV seasons on DVD cost less than that. Jobs is right to show NBC the door.
Hulu?
WTF?
Not only is it “rediculous,” it’s ridiculous, too!
MDN MW: “business,” as in we’re going seriously hurt NBC’s “business.”
Hulu? WTF is right. That sounds like all of the other WMV also-rans. By the time they “get it up” they may as well just take it right back down. NOTHING is as easy as iTunes+iPod+iPhone+AppleTV! This is a joke. Last season, when I missed an Office episode it was off to iTunes to download it. Now it will be off to BitTorrent. Ha ha.
fyi-
NBC/Universal (owned by General Electric) is a completely different entity than Universal Music Group (owned by Vivendi) though they both appear to be run by greedy f*cktards…they’re just not the *same* greedy f*cktards…
When is Apple going to offer movies and TV shows on iTunes to Canadians? The Brits will be getting it soon but not us who are right next door. Was up with that? I would definitely buy movies from iTunes especially since I already purchase music there. This also brings me to the subject of iPhone availability in Canada… What gives?
I thought Safari was supposed to block popups? There’s nothing worse than these MDN ads on an iPhone.
The bar was set ages ago, but those GREEDY bastards turned a blind eye to the fact.
When the processor manufacturers stopped developement for Apple’s Pc’s, Apple simply Shut the door to the manufacturer & signed a deal with another, Motorola, IBM & then Intel.
So this event serves notice to content makers who intend to make profits via itunes, accept the profit margin you are making as a fair level margin or else loose that margin all together.
If your business decisions are loosing you money, don’t cover up your error via higher charges.
They have made money through advertising on the networks, subscriptions, lending and selling, why the hell should they then demand more for a lower quality product that has a zero production cost?
Jobs’ response is the proper reaction to these mindless phuques!
I wouldn’t buy the shows when they were $1.99 each. I would’ve bought them at $0.99 each but $4.99???? No way.
I’d tell those greedy bastards to suck it. Plenty of other content out there anyway.
NBC… Nothing But Crap
$4.99 / episode is obscene. The casualty from the Apple side is not iTunes, which is a low margin offering too bolster iPod, and not iPod, which has an almost infinite amount of audio content available. Rather, it’s AppleTV, which, lets face it, without video content, is toast. Probably why Steve called it a hobby; he doesn’t want Hollywood to think they have leverage by threatening to leave it stranded.
The networks are increasingly desperate for sources of revenue and clearly the $2 price wasn’t doing it for NBC. With iTunes, Tivo, other DVR’s, and other things to consume people’s time…NBC Universal believes it can better profit from it’s own powerful promotional tool (NBC itself) and from building it’s own delivery system. They may be right… we don’t know what price they will charge but I’m going to bet it will be around $2 an episode on Hulu with more money charged for special programming (interviews with the stars, behind the scenes shows, downloads of shooting scripts, show guides, and more.
Greedy frictards!
Jobs vs Murdoch, should be interesting.
Well, they should sell TV shows for $4.99. I think it is an excellent idea. Profits will be huge. – Hey, I am sarcastic!!! C’mon, don’t these guys have any clue about the market. One must really be desperate to pay $4.99 for a TV show. I bought some TV shows before from iTunes and thought that $1.99 was enough since you can’t even make a DVD out of it. But still, it was acceptable. But $4.99 is way out of line. – Still, they should try and sell them for $4.99, especially through a store other than iTunes. Let them see what happens. Not having your shows available on iTunes is bad enough, but asking in addition for $4.99 per show is simply lunatic.
“When is Apple going to offer movies and TV shows on iTunes to Canadians? The Brits will be getting it soon but not us who are right next door. Was up with that? I would definitely buy movies from iTunes especially since I already purchase music there. This also brings me to the subject of iPhone availability in Canada… What gives?”
Canada is a very small market compared to Asia, the UK and the rest of Europe. Thus, despite its geographical proximity, it is only slightly ahead of Australia on the priority list.
A company allied heavily with Microsoftopoly and NewZ Corp (of Faux Newz Channel infamy) is beneath my contempt. Steve was right to pimp slap them.
Then ABC needs to get some popular programs.
ABC, owned by Disney. Disney, 30+% owned by Steve Jobs.
You know what? iTunes sell Friday Night Lights for $40. While Best Buy sells it for $25 and on sell for this week at $20. How much is NBC want? Sh1t! How much is their cut on $25 vs. $40. Sound like greed to me. NBC does not have to pay for hosting, bandwidth, credit card transactions. All I have to say is F* em!
You think that’s bad? I have to pay £135.50 every year for the BBC, and I don’t even watch it!
Fookin BBC bastards!
“Hulu?
WTF?”
Yeah, remember him – he was Sulu’s evil twin in the original Star Trek.
Wait until Murdoch puts the screws to Walt Mossberg and we start
to see MS-friendly writings pouring out of what used to be the
WSJ. I predict in two years Mr. Mossberg will not be a part of the
slimy one’s empire.