NBC exec criticises iTunes pricing, anti-piracy security
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. Read more great feeds at is source WEBSITE
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