Technology news and Jobs 
Information Technology News TV shows: to pay or not to pay, that is the question
Information Technology News TV shows: to pay or not to pay, that is the question | TV shows: to pay or not to pay, that is the question |
|
| by Stephen Withers | |
| Monday, 03 September 2007 | |
|
Page 1 of 2   
Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
"We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. Apple claimed NBC wanted to more than double the wholesale price for each episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $US4.99 per episode from the current $US1.99. NBC Universal says it never sought to double the wholesale price, but did seek "flexibility in wholesale pricing, including the ability to package shows together in ways that could make our content even more attractive for consumers," according to Cory Shields, executive vice president of communications for NBC Universal. Does that mean NBC wanted to give buyers a quantity discount beyond the existing season pass rates, but Apple turned it down in favour of keeping a simple pricing structure? We may never know everything that happened at the negotiating table. But given the prevailing prices charged for DVD boxed sets of TV shows, it's going to be hard to justify charging more than the current per-episode rate. NBC also reportedly complained that Apple is not doing enough to prevent piracy. Hmm... cutting off supply punishes the people that are buying NBC content (and the company that is selling it to them) for the actions of those that aren't. Does that makes sense? As the music industry has found, calling your customers thieves does not make them more likely to give you their money. What might NBC have demanded from Apple? |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
