It’s a sad time for all of us who rely on endless entertainment from our iPods and iPhones. We take them for granted for”long car trips, excessive airport layovers, and, yes, the occasional pretending-to-pay-attention-in-class lectures. NBC Universal confirmed that”it won’t renew its contract with the uber-popular iTunes. The move should”be no”surprise to anyone monitoring the bickering between Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) and NBC.
Negotiations failed in August, although content was available until the contract officially expired recently. Every step I take, I’ll be missing you … As of last week, all NBC programming had been yanked off iTunes for good. NBC, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE ) , had provided about 40%,”or 1,500 hours,”of iTunes video download content — everything from Telemundo programs such as Pasion de Gavilanes to hit shows such as” Law Order “and Heroes .
So what gives? Is Steve Jobs losing his apparently iron grip on the entertainment industry with the seemingly bulletproof hardware/software bundle that”iPods and iTunes created? Not exactly — Apple still holds about 76% of all music downloads. Is NBC out of its mind for ditching such an innovative and effective way to distribute video content? Probably not — it’s got other tricks up”its sleeve.
Most importantly, will they kiss and make up — and for Jiminy Crickets give me my Third Rock From the Sun back? Not these guys. He said, she said On the surface, the conflict seems to be just an unsuccessful pricing battle. NBC had been pushing for an increase in the skimpy $1.99 price per episode Apple currently fetches, but Apple refused to budge.
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