iTunes Store To Stop Selling NBC Television Shows
Apple® today announced that it will not be selling NBC television shows for the upcoming television season on its online iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com). The move follows NBC's decision to not renew its agreement with iTunes …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple says it will not carry NBC's shows for the upcoming season because NBC declined to renew their iTunes distribution deal. The two sides are already trading versions of why: paidContent.org reports Apple claiming NBC wanted to double the wholesale price, while NBCU's same-day statement insists it never asked to double the price and that its shows will stay on iTunes through early December.
The story traveled widely on day one — wire pickup via Associated Press, plus the New York Times, CNNMoney, CNET News.com, and even the New York Post — reflecting how central iTunes had become to TV distribution. Timing sharpens it: Apple has confirmed a September 5 press event in San Francisco, with speculation building that a next-generation iPod is coming, so the company faces a public content-pricing fight days before its biggest hardware showcase.
First-order effects
- NBC's upcoming-season episodes will not be sold through the iTunes Store this fall, and per NBCU's own statement its existing catalog stays there only through early December — a visible hole in Apple's TV offering heading into the season premiere window.
- Apple enters its confirmed September 5 event managing a very public dispute with one of America's largest TV suppliers, on the eve of what press speculation ties to a new iPod.
Second-order effects
- Every other network negotiating renewal terms with Apple now has a live case study: NBCU's rapid public rebuttal of the double-price claim shows both sides are fighting for public opinion, which raises the stakes for all pending iTunes content contracts.
- Rival digital storefronts gain an opening to court NBC's catalog if the split stands, giving NBCU bargaining alternatives it lacked when iTunes was effectively the mainstream download market.
Third-order effects
- If a network of NBC's size can walk away from iTunes without collapsing its digital business, TV studios gain structural leverage to demand variable or higher pricing across the industry — eroding Apple's fixed-terms gatekeeper position in digital video.
- Apple's counterweight remains hardware rather than storefront: with the iPod having squashed Microsoft's Zune in portable players per market reporting, device pull still anchors Apple's side of any content negotiation.
The trend: Television studios are beginning to test whether Apple's tightly controlled iTunes pricing model is negotiable, turning hit-network renewals into public bargaining sessions over who sets the price of digital video.