When NBC started making conciliatory gestures toward Apple back in January it looked as thought the network’s TV shows might soon be back on iTunes. Of course, that hasn’t happened, and the two companies are still arguing over how media is priced and whether Apple is using, as many analysts suspect, iTunes as a loss-leader to pull in new iPod buyers. Now NBC’s chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff, has cranked the pressure up a notch, with the suggestion that current anti-piracy solutions aren’t secure enough to protect his company’s content.
“If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures. One of the big issues for NBC is piracy. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products” George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer, NBC
While NBC Universal’s film arm distributes through iTunes, currently the only legal way for users to view TV content online is via the Hulu service. Described as a YouTube for professionally produced video - together with the anti-piracy measures such producers demand - Hulu currently lacks any download or mobile device use. Since iTunes is the largest music retailer in the US, Kliavkoff’s comments seem obviously aimed at Apple.
NBC and Apple have disagreed over the way wholesale and retail pricing is arrived at. NBC are looking to set their own wholesale price, from which point they say retailers are free to mark it up, to make profit, or mark it down and use it as a loss-leader. However Apple are apparently trying to set both the price they sell content at and the price they buy it, passing the loss-leader mark-down on to NBC. The network pulled its TV shows from iTunes in December last year.
Written by Chris Davies on April 18th, 2008 with no comments.
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Following their decision not to renew their contract with Apple over disagreements regarding iTunes pricing, NBC removed all of its content - including that of its affiliates - from the online store over the weekend. Citing Apple’s refusal to consider even “modest” demands, and suggesting that the company was slashing prices on video in order to increase iPod sales, NBC’s withdrawal means Apple has lost its largest partner for digital video and an estimated 1,500 hours of media. That includes popular shows such as The Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock.
 
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Written by Chris Davies on December 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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I love the NBC and Apple feud so much. Sometimes, the companies overtly bash each other. For every other moment, there’s fun speculation. Take for instance, the latest volley, which likely has nothing to do with the epic rumble between Jeff Zucker and Steve Jobs, but it’s fun to pretend otherwise. Here’s the set-up: NBC’s Saturday Night Live had a sketch featuring an iPhone that Gizmodo believes to have the illicit installer app that graces all jailbroken iPhones — and then, today, Apple issues iPhone firmware 1.1.2 on UK iPhones, which closes the exploit that enables the current group of jailbreaks. Coincidence? Or distant shots in a hundred-years war?
(No further word on features for 1.1.2. Best not to install for now.)
Via digg.
Written by Petemortensen on November 5th, 2007 with no comments.
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Ah, content providers and their stringent pricing and sales schemes. On the same note, NBC signed up knowing what the deal was, and now they want to come along and change it like as if they have a stake in the company?
Basically what is happening is NBC is apparently wanting to change the pricing scheme for its shows. As if that wasn’t enough, they also want the ability to bundle videos, I don’t know if they would be bundling multiple videos, test pilots, or advertisements, but surely there has to be a reason why Apple is so dead set against it since they already bundle songs in albums.
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Written by Staff Editor on August 31st, 2007 with no comments.
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