Zucker on Anchors and iPods
NBC Universal last week became next in line to make its TV content available via Apple's iTunes, which follows an earlier deal it had made with DirecTV to supply programming for video-on-demand. And while NBC U Television Group President Jeff Zucker is busy trying …
Context & Ripple Effects
With no prior corpus history on this beat, the anchor points are the two confirmed deals themselves: NBC Universal has put its television content on Apple's iTunes store, layered on top of an earlier agreement supplying programming for DirecTV's video-on-demand service. The timing follows the arrival of the video-capable iPod, which is already being used to watch downloaded daily programs — Rocketboom's Amanda Congdon confirmed playable in the device's 2.5-inch window the day before this piece ran.
First-order effects
- NBC programming becomes purchasable through Apple's iTunes store, giving NBC U Television Group under Jeff Zucker a paid digital window alongside its existing DirecTV video-on-demand supply arrangement.
- Apple gains network television content for the newly shipped video iPod, strengthening the device's case as more than a music player.
Second-order effects
- Rival networks now face the same template decision — license libraries to iTunes or route digital rights through carrier-style VOD partners like DirecTV instead.
- Distributors buying NBC content, DirecTV chief among them, gain grounds to negotiate for on-demand positioning or exclusivity as the network splits inventory across platforms.
Third-order effects
- If each major network strikes its own device-and-storefront deals, television distribution fragments into per-platform release windows, eroding the single broadcast schedule that anchors ad pricing.
- Portable video players harden into a recognized distribution endpoint for television, pushing ad-supported networks toward consumer-paid downloads as a standing revenue line rather than an experiment.
The trend: American television networks are opening their libraries to digital storefronts and set-top on-demand services, converting episodic TV into a multi-window product sold beside the broadcast schedule.