Apple, NBC Universal Repairing Relations?

[Cleverboy]

Engadget recently ran a story thread that seems very telling:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/21/n...ing-to-itunes/

Recently the Financial Times has reported comments from Jeff Zucker (head honcho at NBC) that, "We've said all along that we admire Apple, that we want to be in business with Apple." and that, "We're great fans of Steve Jobs." More interesting, BusinessWeek has reportedly published recent comments from Steve Jobs on the situation, saying "We'll put it back together on the TV thing. Everybody lost. But NBC is a great company, and Apple is a great company."

NBC chief eyes TV shake-up
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/877c999c-c...0779fd2ac.html
Reporter's Notes from Interview with Steve Jobs
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...terior_ha.html

Mm. Yes... yes, I'd appreciate that quite a bit. NBC better damn well sign a new contract before settling with the writers strike though. I can't imagine that would work in their favor.

~ CB

[Chaszmyr]

I hope NBC makes up with Apple. The more studios the better - especially if they agree to do things Apple's way. I'm not so naive as to think that Apple isn't in the game for profit too, but as a consumer I'd much rather my fate be in Apple's hands than the studios'.

[nlivo]

yeah, I read this earlier today. Its great news and by the sounds of it, probable.

[MacRumors]

The Financial Times and Businessweek are independently reporting on an apparent soothing of relations between the heads of NBC and Apple.

The Financial Times interviews Jeff Zucker of NBC Universal, who gives praise to Apple and Steve Jobs.

"We’ve said all along that we admire Apple, that we want to be in business with Apple,” he said. “We’re great fans of Steve Jobs.”

Meanwhile, Businessweek gets Jobs' take.

“We’ll put it back together on the TV thing. Everybody lost (when Zucker pulled his content off iTunes). But NBC is a great company, and Apple is a great company,” neither of which make a habit of ignoring their customers’ desires, he said. “Fortunately,” he half-joked, “there was a writers’ strike, so it didn’t matter as much as it might have.”

Readers will realize that the tones have changed dramatically since rhetoric spiked a few months ago. Apple's recently overhauled Apple TV software may be encouraging dialogue between the companies.

Article Link

[amac4me]

We'll see content from NBC back on iTunes very soon!

[gphoto]

It would be great if they got back together.

[iSee]

YES!

Well, actually I just bought an Elgato Hybrid (or whatever it's called) just so I could be sure to catch some of the NBC shows, so maybe it's too late for me. (I used to grab missed episodes of some NBC shows off of iTunes.) Still, this has to be a good, good thing.

[BigGarb]

After the new features of AppleTV were announced I had a feeling we might see NBC creep back into the picture.

[adrianblaine]

It was only a matter of time. Now if only they can get USA and Monk back on iTunes soon as well!

[MacTO]

Now they're talking... I mean... about to.

Cheers.

[starflyer]

Im sure it had nothing to do with Andrea Jung joining the Apple Board of Directors. She also sits on GE's board which owns 80% of NBC Universal.

[MisterMe]

English translation of NBC Universal's statement:

Uncle.

[aross99]

I just hope they get back before Battlestar Galactica starts again!

[macbookairman]

This makes sense because when NBC went off iTunes, i had an episode of the office in my shopping cart. But when they officially left, it disappeared. But when i updated to the new iTunes the other day, it was back in my shopping cart, and you can preview it and everything. Instead of a buy now button, it says "view" though.

[SheriffParker]

Oh it looks like they're going to get back together. I'm so happy for them!

[aross99]

I hope NBC/Universal comes to its senses soon. Hulu may be an alternative to iTunes, but it should not be a replacement...

[bluefido]

I want my German light show already.

[ccunning]

Originally Posted by macbookairman

This makes sense because when NBC went off iTunes, i had an episode of the office in my shopping cart. But when they officially left, it disappeared. But when i updated to the new iTunes the other day, it was back in my shopping cart, and you can preview it and everything. Instead of a buy now button, it says "view" though.

Isn't "View" the term iTunes uses for movie rentals as opposed to "Buy". "Renting" TV episodes would make a hell of a lot of sense, especially at a discounted rate (99¢ ?).

[zap2]

Good....no one wins with this feud....but the consumer sure as heck loses

[brewcitywi]

I hope it goes back to normal with NBC, but I always like what Jay Leno said about NBC, as he was negotiating his first Tonight Show deal, competing with David Letterman.

He said that he knows what NBC stands for now...

Never Believe your Contract.

[krye]

Like I said all along, bringing Andrea onboard was a good thing; and it puts NBC/Universal in Steve Jobs's back pocket.

[imcquill]

It will be interesting to see whether or not they keep the same model for TV downloads, or if there is some new model in mind.

I'm not sure how popular this would be, but if Apple made a special section of the Podcasts section, where content providers could control which parts of their shows could be fast-forwarded, I bet you'd see a lot of the free content from the big networks as free podcasts. That would be pretty slick on the Apple TV and would still present big advantages over traditional TV. I doubt Apple are going to get much free content from the big networks without some kind of ad model like this. Otherwise, obviously being able to fast forward ads would be nice.

[solipsism]

It sure didn't long before NBC realized it was dumb to remove a revenue stream. If they want to use MS' Silverlight to start their own ad-based system—or even a pay per episode system—so be it, and if it becomes popular enough then forego iTunes. I wonder if anyone got fired for it? In Japan someone would have been asked to step down.

Originally Posted by adrianblaine

It was only a matter of time. Now if only they can get USA and Monk back on iTunes soon as well!

I think USA us under the NBC/Universal umbrella.

Originally Posted by MisterMe

English translation of NBC Universal's statement:

Uncle.

HAHAHAHA

[happydude]

do you really think it's the new apple tv that got nbc back on track? how successful was apple with episode downloading before and why would a new apple tv bring new people out of the woodwork for buying new episodes - enough to leverage nbc back to the table? is it more likely nbc just realized that suddenly they were losing a cash stream that they weren't going to be able to replicate on their own (or with a different company)?

i dunno, i just never "got" the apple tv. it would make way more sense to me to have live tv and tivo-like feature included, then it would for real be a all encompassing media dealy. i know that's not what jobs intentions are, blah blah, but i for one am just not sold on the device yet.

[fastbite]

SIT dog! SIT!