Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

NBC to End iTunes Sales?

AT71 said:
What if FOX follows suit? Geez! There goes my "24".

Better stop investing in iTunes Store contents. I blame Apple for this mess too.
Click to expand...

So if apple went along and raised prices to $4.99 per episode, you'd be happy? If NBC insisted on doubling prices, what do you propose apple should have done?

digitalbiker said:
Therefore the more people that buy tv from itunes the fewer people that watch over-the-air
Click to expand...

That's not a safe assumption to make. It ignores people that see an episode and buy it to watch it repeatedly, and it ignores people who miss an episode and if it wasn't available on iTunes would end up pirating it or just not seeing it. It's not a zero sum game.
 
AT71 said:
Er... hate to ask.

But anyone know a way to remove the DRM from the videos bought in iTunes Store using a Mac?

Sick of all these DRM nonsense.
Click to expand...

Buy DVDs and Rip 'em. That way you only buy it once and you can watch it on your DVD player AND your iPod.

I don't really like downloading movies/shows because it is lower quality AND I still have to back it up onto disk at MY COST. Not such a bargain, especially at NBCs idiotic $4.50. That is simply nuts. When I can buy a season on DVD for 30-40 bucks on nice new DVDs and packaging and extras and everything, even 1.99 for an episode is way too much.
 
Sheradon said:
I used to bittorren my shows before Itunes....

If NBC removes their shows off Itunes and starts selling elsewhere i will not follow them...will go back to bittoren download.

I'm sure i'm not the only one who thinks like that, NBC would be fools to leave.
Click to expand...

Is using bittorrent illegal? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I really don't know anything about it.
 
digitalbiker said:
Maybe it saved Office from being cancelled because of strong itunes sales but that still doesn't increase the Neilson ratings.

Advertising charges are linked to ratings. High rated shows get more money from ads than low rated shows.

Therefore the more people that buy tv from itunes the fewer people that watch over-the-air, this results in lower Neilson ratings, or in other words less revenue from advertising.

The network needs to make up that lost revenue somehow. They hope that increasing itunes download pricing will offset the revenue lost. If it doesn't then content providers will slowly go broke or they will have to stop creating high-cost productions. This spells bad news for high-paid actors, or high priced special effect television productions.
Click to expand...

Are there any figures to determine that this is even the case? I could argue that DVD box sets threaten the revenue stream of reruns left in syndication. NBC is simply stupid for wanting to raise the price that much, and I very much agree with Apple for not going along with it. Why?

Because if Apple were to agree to this pricing, who do you think most people will blame? They'll blame Apple, and NBC will be sitting pretty knowing that they were able to get everything they wanted. Have you read the reviews on the iTunes store? Whenever there's a complaint about the price of a show, movie or album, people complain that iTunes needs to straighten up or iTunes should change their policy, because many many people are simply unaware of the content provider involvement. Every time content providers push to get prices hiked, Apple knows that people will get pissed, but then get pissed off at them more than the studios/labels.
 
Well, good luck with that proprietary beta video service, NBC. I'm sure the Zune owners (all 15) will just love that. I seriously hope that even the NBC execs didn't actually want $5 per episode, and that was just used as an excuse to back out of iTunes. If they really thought they could get $5 per episode out of most people, then they are completely deluded and need some psychiatric help. Hello?? A lot of this content you can get with rabbit ear antennae most places. And in HD!! Granted it has commercials, but still......are the NBC execs that out of touch?
 
dswoodley said:
Apple wants all episodes of any tv show to be $1.99, that's like a store telling all cereal makers they must sell EVERY box of cereal for $3.99 or something. I honestly don't think most buyers would care of they had to pay $2.19 for the Office and $1.89 for LaO SVU.
Click to expand...

What isolated cave have you been living in? ;)

Comparing this to cereal boxes is like apples and oranges. You forget that the industry is also fighting piracy. How many people do you know that go out stealing cereal and exchange it with everyone they know?

In case you didn't know...they don't. Apple has capitalized on convenience with a balance of cost. This is why Apple doesn't make much off of each download. If they raise the price more, it'll drive many of their customers to pirate rather than buy.
 
After pondering this a bit...

For what it's worth one should ask how is NBC going to deliver their content through the web. One big question with that is...will it be viewable on an iphone?

While I'm no fan of NBC, it could very well be that while, yes, they are greedy, they are merely looking to capitalize on devices from Apple like the iphone and see that selling in much greater quantities than the iphone. This might allow them to maintain more control over what they make through advertising plus still eventually hit a pretty large audience. As long as they don't go overboard with the ads, this isn't so bad for the viewing public.

I have a video ipod and quite frankly having video on it is more of a novelty. That's for my needs of course. Using an iphone or viewing shows at a decent res on a fullsize monitor is a much more attractive idea for me and I bet alot of others. In the end NBC could actually spin this so that it looks like Apple is hanging onto an antiquated(already!) system.
 
Sheradon said:
On the contrary that is exactly wath NBC wants ppl to do !!!

If you stick with Itunes it will be NBC that will have to come back for lack of revenues !!!

If ppl go back to DVD's then you are doing just what NBC is looking for.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, I won't go for either. Just borrow the DVD from friends. Or rent.
 
milo said:
So if apple went along and raised prices to $4.99 per episode, you'd be happy? If NBC insisted on doubling prices, what do you propose apple should have done?

That's not a safe assumption to make. It ignores people that see an episode and buy it to watch it repeatedly, and it ignores people who miss an episode and if it wasn't available on iTunes would end up pirating it or just not seeing it. It's not a zero sum game.
Click to expand...

Kinda missed on the price hike. 4.99 per episode is madness!

Guess don't watch NBC shows.
 
Black Belt said:
Buy DVDs and Rip 'em. That way you only buy it once and you can watch it on your DVD player AND your iPod.

I don't really like downloading movies/shows because it is lower quality AND I still have to back it up onto disk at MY COST. Not such a bargain, especially at NBCs idiotic $4.50. That is simply nuts. When I can buy a season on DVD for 30-40 bucks on nice new DVDs and packaging and extras and everything, even 1.99 for an episode is way too much.
Click to expand...

My problem with DVD is, you never know when the disc will turn into a coaster. I have a few DVD titles just become useless plastic despite being well kept.
 
WTF does NBC care about anti-piracy?!?! I don't know how other countries work, but in the US, the NBC content (and that of all other non-cable networks) is broadcast on the open airwaves for anyone to receive free of charge.

Let me get this straight: I can get NBC content free with a $12 antenna on my roof but if I want to download it using my $3000 computer and $50 a month internet connection I have to pay for each episode AND deal with DRM?

No f--king thanks.
 
Well, it seems like a lot of people have said it very well. NBC is being asinine, greedy, and all around stupid. They have one program that I care about, and I wouldn't be willing to pay $4.99 for each episode of it. (As someone pointed out, that would be about $100 for a season! Getting a season on DVD, higher res., play anywhere, plus extras, is less than half that!) Sorry, that price is absurd. I'm sorry to see them leaving the iTS, but if they can't see what is painfully obvious to everyone here, then they'll be destined to failure in all of their endeavors.

Sayonara NBC.
 
itunes will lighten up. The Office, Psych, and Euerka are usually in the top 10 when they have new episode, and they basically provide all of the stuff on the Sci-Fi catagory..
 
EagerDragon said:
Makes very little difference to me, I actualy watch very little TV and have purchased a total of 3 videos from iTunes.

Most of the times im on my Mac, learning something, trying something, working on something, reading rss, visiting sites, chatting, playing a game, editing photos, making a video, and occational uTube (one a month or so).

If the TV is on, is for someone else enjoyment, to me it is mainly background (white) noice.

In my case, nothing lost and nothing gained.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing!

Everyone was dying to know how this change would effect someone who doesn't use the service.

:rolleyes:
 
In a MarketWatch article, I was intrigued by this paragraph:

'NBC Universal also asked Apple to "take concrete steps" to prevent piracy, the spokesman stated, "since it is estimated that the typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material." '

In other words, Apple has to engineer the iPod & iTunes so no one can transfer non-DRM material into the device. Scan the incoming content for DRM; if it's not present, don't load it.

So if Apple can produce a DRM-only device, NBC can rest assured that no one will transfer their non-iTunes shows via bitTorrent or ...

Wait a minute... :p
 
pimentoLoaf said:
In a MarketWatch article, I was intrigued by this paragraph:

'NBC Universal also asked Apple to "take concrete steps" to prevent piracy, the spokesman stated, "since it is estimated that the typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material." '
Click to expand...

In other words, Apple has to engineer the iPod & iTunes so no one can transfer non-DRM material into the device. Scan the incoming content for DRM; if it's not present, don't load it.

In short, if Apple can produce a DRM-only device, NBC can rest assured that no one will transfer their non-iTunes shows via bitTorrent or ...

Wait a minute... :p
Click to expand...

That is truly absurd. And how is Apple supposed to discriminate between legally ripped (i.e. I bought a CD and imported the tracks into iTunes) and illegally downloaded (i.e. I found a song on Limewire and grabbed it) songs? Or are they talking about videos? Though the same argument can be applied there, too. How on Earth is Apple supposed to discriminate between legally ripped videos (i.e. ripped from the iPod owner's DVD library) and illegally downloaded videos (i.e. ripped from someone else's DVD library)?

The answer is... it can't be done! Not unless iTunes allows ripping, but everything that it rips, music or videos, are automatically encoded with DRM.

[SARCASM]
And, of course, we all know that everyone would cheer on a move like that from Apple.
[/SARCASM]

:rolleyes:
 
AT71 said:
My problem with DVD is, you never know when the disc will turn into a coaster. I have a few DVD titles just become useless plastic despite being well kept.
Click to expand...

Just about any dvd's with mainstream material from legit sources are pressed and aren't going to turn into a coaster unless you store them in an environment not suitable for dvd's.

It's dvd's that are burned that can go bad from just sitting around as burned dvd's use a chemical processed that can and will most likely go bad at some point.
 
Shame

What a shame. I guess I'll miss out of Battlestar Galactica this season (I don't have cable for SCIFI). Instead of buying the season on iTunes, I guess I'll just rent it long after the fact on my existing Netflix account. If I want it elsewhere, I guess I'll just have to teach myself to rip these things, or become gradually disinterested. Actually, by the time BSG comes out on DVD, I probably won't care anymore. Way to monetize that final season NBC! I don't buy seasons on DVD... well, Justice League Unlimited being the exception. iTunes tricked me into slurping up seasons of content and sometimes buying the season outright. They must not have much confidence in their programming. This has got to be woefully idiotic. I know NBC was suffering problems with programming, and almost went for game shows wholehog, but come on now... things were just turning around.

If not on iTunes, DEAD TO ME:
+ 30 Rock
+ The Office (which iTunes is creditted with saving)
+ Heroes

So help me, if I miss 2 eps of Heroes on TV, I'll probably not watch it much at all.

~ CB
 
pimentoLoaf said:
In a MarketWatch article, I was intrigued by this paragraph:
'NBC Universal also asked Apple to "take concrete steps" to prevent piracy, the spokesman stated, "since it is estimated that the typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material." '
Click to expand...
More concrete than preventing people from REMOVING content from the device through iTunes? More concrete than making it really easy for people to BUY content? Does anyone else take these fairy tale "steps" to prevent piracy? Maybe Steve Jobs should bath three times in chicken blood at mid-night. Maybe that would help prevent piracy...

~ CB
 
Snowy_River said:
The answer is... it can't be done! Not unless iTunes allows ripping, but everything that it rips, music or videos, are automatically encoded with DRM.

[SARCASM]
And, of course, we all know that everyone would cheer on a move like that from Apple.
[/SARCASM]

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

There is an option to add DRM to songs ripped from CD. I honestly don't see why people here wouldn't use that option. I dunno what Apple could do with the video. Maybe convert it all to protected format as you import it. It isn't like most of us would use a non apple device to play back such media. So what would be the difference?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back