I live and work in Hollywood, and as of today, the same idiot who declined cheap and easy rentals was also told he would be fired in January - Jeff Zucker, the moron who ruined NBC.
(Of course, he will be fired with about a $50 million severance package. Yet another example if the idiocy that rules NBC/Universal.)
Anyhow, these morons are just setting themselves up for more piracy and crappy retail sales - and not just becuase the shows they make no one really wants to see. Media needs to be easy, almost passive, and the majority of consumer will actually pay for it. Make it hard, and most people won't bother to watch and those that will, will pirate it.
NBC is the creator of their own mediocrity. A simple thing like not joining AppleTV is just another example of it.