NBC "Heroes" turn to Zeroes: NBC Gets Greedy, Apple Says No
In a move of unparalleled stupidity (OK, maybe there's one parallel), NBC decided recently to insist on doubling the wholesale cost of their upcoming TV season shows as iTunes Store downloads, starting in December. This has led Apple to post a press release today announcing that they are dropping the NBC fall season from their offerings.
Personally, the CouchGuy applauds Apple for not caving in to an obvious burst of greed on NBC's part. NBC's big hit, Heroes, owes some of it's early popularity to a free preview episode released through the iTunes Store. Now they want to double their take, a move Apple says would have forced the current $1.99 price per episode to climb to something like $4.99 to maintain Apple's already-thin margin on download sales. At $1.99, the CouchGuy is happy to buy some episodes here and there to make sure I don't miss anything (as I did with Heroes for season 1), or buy a whole season of a favorite oldie (the revered-in-childhood-memory Jonny Quest) or new show I missed catching on broadcast from the beginning (Commander-in-Chief). But at $4.99 per? Not a chance, pal.
Observers of the scene from the Macalope to Macworld/Playlist's Christopher Breen agree, this is a dumb move for NBC and a good place for Apple to draw a digital line in the sand. If Apple caves here, it is the end for download TV in the long run. That kind of pricing will kill the growth of the most promising new venue for video entertainment on the horizon. We can help by continuing to buy from other still-sane vendors on the iTunes Store and telling NBC to take a long walk off a short season. They don't get my money via iTunes, and they don't get my eyeballs counted for their advertisers. There are other people who want my business. The CouchGuy truly hopes this insanity doesn't extend to USA Network, owned by NBC/Universal, which is the home of some of the other favorites around the CouchGuy household like Monk and Psych. If so, there's always The Discovery Channel.
Personally, the CouchGuy applauds Apple for not caving in to an obvious burst of greed on NBC's part. NBC's big hit, Heroes, owes some of it's early popularity to a free preview episode released through the iTunes Store. Now they want to double their take, a move Apple says would have forced the current $1.99 price per episode to climb to something like $4.99 to maintain Apple's already-thin margin on download sales. At $1.99, the CouchGuy is happy to buy some episodes here and there to make sure I don't miss anything (as I did with Heroes for season 1), or buy a whole season of a favorite oldie (the revered-in-childhood-memory Jonny Quest) or new show I missed catching on broadcast from the beginning (Commander-in-Chief). But at $4.99 per? Not a chance, pal.
Observers of the scene from the Macalope to Macworld/Playlist's Christopher Breen agree, this is a dumb move for NBC and a good place for Apple to draw a digital line in the sand. If Apple caves here, it is the end for download TV in the long run. That kind of pricing will kill the growth of the most promising new venue for video entertainment on the horizon. We can help by continuing to buy from other still-sane vendors on the iTunes Store and telling NBC to take a long walk off a short season. They don't get my money via iTunes, and they don't get my eyeballs counted for their advertisers. There are other people who want my business. The CouchGuy truly hopes this insanity doesn't extend to USA Network, owned by NBC/Universal, which is the home of some of the other favorites around the CouchGuy household like Monk and Psych. If so, there's always The Discovery Channel.
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