News came out today that NBC would potentially pull its shows from the iTunes store at the end of the year. Citing concerns over pricing and piracy, (and no doubt their own endeavor with News Corp. coming soon at hulu.com) they said that talks had broken down for the most part. This is most certainly connected to Universal’s decision not to offer DRM free music content on iTunes as well as operate on iTunes on a month-to-month basis versus the contract that they have had for years now. Universal produces many of the shows on NBC and (as I have heard anecdotally) has a 20% stake in the network.

You see, they don’t want Apple to have the same kind of foothold on television and movie sales that they enjoy with music. Apple and we consumers are to be penalized for Apple’s innovation and ability to ease the process of purchasing and consuming digital content. NBC’s colossal stupidity boggles my mind.

Piracy? Come on! To my knowledge, no one has cracked the DRM on iTunes videos as can be done with music purchased on the store. Nevermind the fact DVD’s sold in stores can easily have their copy protection circumvented. Since the news came out, Apple has commented saying that NBC wanted to effectively double the price to $5. Their greed seems to know no bounds.

If other studios and content providers are smart, they will stick with the current arrangement. I don’t think they will be too eager to experience the swell of anger that has been sent NBC’s way.

written by JM