Apple to Sell S.N.L. Skits for iPod Use
"Saturday Night Live" fans looking to watch classic skits from the show may not have to depend on reruns and DVD compilations for long. — Apple is set to announce today that it will sell a limited number of archived "Saturday Night" …
Context & Ripple Effects
The announcement breaks on the opening day of Macworld Expo San Francisco 2006, where Steve Jobs was already positioned as the week's main media draw with another of his simple-looking stage shows. Pre-Expo chatter had centered on hardware — unconfirmed reports of Intel processors in the Mac lineup, a relaunched Mac mini, and new iBooks — so a content deal gives the keynote a software-and-store angle alongside the rumor mill.
For S.N.L., the move matters because until now fans could only reach the show's archive through reruns and DVD compilations, both gated by broadcast schedules and physical release cycles. Selling archived skits directly to iPod owners turns a dormant library into per-download inventory inside Apple's store, with Apple as the storefront operator.
First-order effects
- iPod owners gain a way to buy individual classic S.N.L. skits on demand rather than depending on rerun schedules or DVD box sets.
- Apple enters the Macworld week with a marquee television archive added to its download catalog, complementing whatever hardware it announces.
Second-order effects
- Other broadcasters holding deep program archives now have a worked example of licensing old footage through a device-tied storefront, and each such deal strengthens Apple's position as the default buyer.
- Pricing conventions for archival television get set early — per skit versus per episode versus compilation — shaping how rights holders across the industry value their back catalogs.
Third-order effects
- If archives keep migrating into device-linked stores, the platform operator becomes the tollgate between television libraries and viewers, shifting bargaining power from broadcasters to storefront owners — a reusable-artifact control point in miniature.
- Back catalogs would gradually be reclassified from residual-generating broadcast assets to digital goods whose economics depend on platform terms rather than syndication schedules.
The trend: Television archives are being repositioned from broadcast reruns and DVD compilations into per-download digital goods sold through device-linked storefronts, with the storefront owner setting the terms.