Barely a month after taking most of its videos off of iTunes and going home, NBC is ready to play again. In a story about NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, the Financial Times reports:
Mr Zucker appears to have patched up relations with Apple after a pricing dispute last year led NBC to pull its shows from the iTunes digital media store. “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.”
Still no sign of the missing NBC shows on iTunes. But it looks more and more like NBC’s walkout may have just been a negotiating tactic.
“…looks more and more like NBC’s walkout may have just been a negotiating tactic.”
Or Hulu is grossly under performing.
Good decision.
It’s hard to admit you’ve made a mistake.
I believe that we call this “Apple Calls NBC’s Bluff, NBC Folds”
I find that very interesting. Whats next?
@1 and @3:
Little from column A, little from column B.
I think NBC knows AppleTV Take 2 is going to ROCK!
Yep Apple TV take 2 did it. I am happy they patched things up. Now I can get access to all shows on it.
Goodbye broadcast TV…
I you continue reading the article, it says that Apple now allows NBC to set it own prices for TV shows.
Sounds like NBC won.
Apple fanboys need read everything, before stupidly claiming victory for Apple.
According to paidcontent.org, the comments by Zucker were made in reference to NBC’s decision to allow their titles to be rented on iTunes. The reasoning: variable pricing, one of the issues that caused them to pull their TV shows in the first place.
It may not have been a cave by NBC. They’re not exactly a small player…
I hope NBC stands strong. I don’t think NBC needs Apple and really don’t think Apple deserves the admiration they receive for essentially being a content monopoly bully.
Good decisio
Venkat Rao - not everyone has a subscription to FT.com (in order to read the entire article) - you fool.
NBC would be stupid not to, either way. They can have hulu AND itunes - They even admitted to making $12M last year on it, so they’d rather not make another 12M? Doesn’t make any sense they would not return - matter the prices are allowed to go to 300.00 per episode or not (and guess who would front the price complaints? You think NBC? Nope - iTune would. The same philosophy WalMart has - if Walmart didn’t ’sell for less’ then they sure the hell wouldn’t be as large as they are today. Each company has the right to set prices, even when you’re selling other companies products.
i was talking about the reporting on the issue by tech crunch
NBC recently launched their new video player, and I think they wanted people to play their shows and show off their new player exclusively on NBC’s website. Now that it is getting established, they can go back to iTunes.
BUT, I also think it is because the new player DOESN’T WORK on some/many computers… Especially if they are older. They NEED iTunes to satisfy those that can’t use their new player.
I also think they got a LOT of NEGATIVE feedback for yanking it off iTunes.
My 2¢
Why NBC is trying to utilize Windows Media Player for its “NBC Direct” is beyond me!!??? Not compatible with Macs either.
Look at these typical bugs their Windows Media Player generates. From NBC’s site…
(Admit it NBC & MSNBC… Windows Media Player sucks, so why force yourself to use it??)
All Microsoft Windows Vista and XP users (all editions)
Switching between different shows during video playback “freezes” the application. A fix is being developed and will be available shortly.
The Open Case Media Agent powering the NBC Direct service “spikes” the CPU usage and does not decrease. A partial solution was rolled out with the 11/20/2007 update (build #5.2.0.1221). A more advanced solution is being developed and will be available shortly.
Content isn’t removed properly if the user deletes a clip that’s active in the NBC Direct player. A fix is being developed.
If the video you are watching is still downloading by the time the first ad break is reached, then it will start from the begininng. Please allow the download to complete first before resuming the video.
Windows XP users with Windows Media Player 10, if you’re only getting ads, please visit the following page to apply a Microsoft patch that will restore proper video playback:
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 891122
RESOLVED ISSUES
Microsoft Windows Vista users (all editions)
There was a Microsoft Vista bug that prevented the NBC Direct player from functioning properly. A fix was rolled out with the 12/14/2007 update (build #5.2.0.1244) and requires new and existing users to apply a patch to complete the update.
Microsoft Windows XP users (all editions) running Microsoft Windows Media Player 11
There was a known bug that affected proper playback of downloaded video components. A required fix was rolled out with the 11/20/2007 update (build #5.2.0.1221) which will require you to restart the service to complete the installation. If you’re are still having issues, please click here to apply the necessary fix.
The MY VIDEOS tab only allowed the display of 10 downloaded videos. A fix was rolled out with the 11/20/2007 update (build #5.2.0.1221).
MORE >
And on and on….
Hulu and iTunes are completely different animals.
That being said I’ve been using hulu since I signed up for the beta and I love it. All my favorite shows (including Simpsons and Family Guy) for free on demand.