Stupid, stupid, stupid NBC withdraws from iTunes contract
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NBC Universal’s TV shows are no longer available on iTunes, with NBC deciding not to renew its contract with Apple after it expired on Nov 30. The General Electric-owned broadcaster threatened that it would not renew its two-year contract with Apple in Aug, following disagreements over pricing and copyright control.
Now this is not strictly mobile related but I had to make a comment on this. NBC has decided not to renew its contract with Apple so you can’t buy NBC shows on iTunes now.
Idiots. Class-A idiots. It’s all about the consumer, stupid.
That gets right up my nose. Right UP my nose. I like one or two NBC shows and I was planning on buying a few NBC series on iTunes shortly. But screw them, with bells on. It really gets right up my nose when content owners think they know best. What’s best is getting your content via multiple distribution streams as easy as possible to the consumer and at a fair price.
Otherwise consumers just download it. It’s really simple, isn’t it? Stick it on iTunes and I’ll buy it as it’s easy and hassle free. Otherwise two clicks on Google and you can be illegally downloading NBC content right away. Absolute 100% idiots.
You get the same in the mobile industry though. Idiot people not understanding how consumers work and what consumers actually want. Witness - Sony’s unmitigated disaster in the wake of the Walkman and the iPod. They still haven’t got their handsets working properly.
For 70 years it’s been easy to consume content. You switch on your television and you’re done. It works, whether it’s black and white, or colour. Enter the mobile industry and all of a sudden manufacturers, operators (and, to a lesser extent, content providers) are all over the shop, pissing consumers right off for years.
I remember when I bought a Sony MiniDisc player, I was dumbfounded by how annoying it was to get music ON to the device. I remember thinking ‘Why isn’t there a music store where I can just click and download tracks?’ Then Sony vomited one out to the marketplace … that enabled you to buy a Michael Jackson album or a Meatloaf one (or something like that). Getting the sodding music ON to the device was another issue. The device wasn’t quite compatible with Windows and worked every second Tuesday. All the MP3s that I had needed to be VERY SLOWLY converted over to Sony’s format by it’s shit-slow piece-of-shit-rubbish music console that kept on crashing. Swap computers and you’re screwed.
It really, really wound me up. You’d think billion dollar companies were better than this. But no, their executives are sat at the top of the tower arsing around.
What plonker decided to make it so difficult to put music on to a Nokia? And then WORK the music on the phone.
It really winds me up that my mother can download tracks from iTunes and play them and playlist them — and then sync songs to her iPhone and, shock horror, PLAY them - without any effort… but that she never, ever did this on her MP3-capable (but ultimately piece-of-shit) Motorola RAZR. Bollocks. Total bollocks.
No wonder the industry is so monumentally screwed at the moment.
But it’s not all bad. No. Apple at least have shown how to do it properly. The iPhone isn’t brilliant, it has it’s issues. But hopefully, HOPEFULLY the arses at the top — the developers, the ’specialist innovation consultants’ and whatnot, have got the message now and the next generation of Sony, Samsung, LG, Nokia (and Apple) devices will be significantly improved.
They won’t, obviously, be carrying any NBC content…
Only read the first half - don’t get angry too soon! http://www.hulu.com is a venture that NBC are involved with alongside some of the other bigg’uns that will ultimately provide on-demand streaming of all the shows.
Posted by Geoff Wright on December 4th, 2007 at 3:16 pm.Right but what if I want to get Hulu stuff on iPhone or iPod? EXTREMELY annoying. I hope it’s push-a-button simple.
Posted by Ewan on December 4th, 2007 at 3:18 pm.Why is it that every blog post I see even remotely involving the iTunes/NBC scuffle has some peculiarly well-written post right near the top urging people to calm down because hulu will save the day? Do I smell astroturf? Hulu is doomed from the start, people. It requires a live internet connection and a browser, and only does streaming and with shit quality at that. No provision has been made to download the shows and watch them in the gym, or on the bus, or anywhere except tethered to a freaking cable. Who do they think they’re kidding?
Posted by WTF on December 4th, 2007 at 5:36 pm.“Only read the first half - don’t get angry too soon! http://www.hulu.com is a venture that NBC are involved with alongside some of the other bigg’uns that will ultimately provide on-demand streaming of all the shows.”
Posted by Ted T. on December 4th, 2007 at 6:18 pm.You MUST be joking. How are you going to get these shows to your iPod, iPhone or TV for that matter, if it isn’t attached to a computer? This service is destined to follow PressPlay, MusicMatch and all other similar anti-consumer services into the toilet.
I agree with the author. I think NBC is stupid, and I think that the hulu thing will ultimately fail, and prove once and for all that they need Apple. Its not bad to need all the time… they could have had a nice synergetic relationship.
Posted by Britt on December 4th, 2007 at 6:51 pm.Plus, Hulu is ad-supported. So you can tetheryourself to the Tivo and watch ad-supported content or to the computer to watch ad-supported content. This would be a distinction without a difference, were it not for the fact that you can zip through the ads with Tivo and your TV is bigger and is attached to a better sound system.
Posted by MRZ on December 4th, 2007 at 7:01 pm.I agree completely with your rant and have mailed off my own nasty emails to NBC Universal over this debacle. I do, however, take issue with your categorization of the iPhone. It certainly IS brilliant. Absolutely the most advanced and fascinating piece of tech I’ve ever encountered. One doesn’t have to be perfect to be brilliant.
And good luck waiting for Samsung, LG and Nokia to figure this stuff out. None of these guys will experience great success until they abandon Microsoft’s proprietary DRM. The only other option right now is Apple’s own proprietary DRM , which Apple’s not going to share with anyone, so DRM has got to go if anyone wants to compete with Apple in this area. Here’s hoping we’ll see them smarten up enough to all get together as an industry and force the content providers to remove all DRM from everything. Now, let’s all hold our breaths…
Posted by fog city dave on December 4th, 2007 at 7:31 pm.It took a while for the music industry to figure it out. Now its’ the video provider’s turn.
The world is going mobile, with you or without. We’ll still get our copies of your shows to our mobile devices. You, the video provider, need to decide to make it easy and affordable for us to do so, or try to restrict this to a single device, operating system, or process, like a subscription.
The iTunes Store has flaws, but its overall execution is great. One stop for video and music, iPod or no, but if you do, you’re done. Reasonable DRM that satisfies the legals yet doesn’t get in the way of the buyer’s fair use. Works on Windows or Mac.
Of course, such bad decisions are on par with NBC, a company that should still be kicking themselves for reliquishing the rights to a small cult TV show called “Star Trek.” Don’t mistake their broadcast successes such as “Heroes” and “Battlestar Galactica” (on Sci-Fi Channel) as necessarily thought out. This media access change indicates that their business acumen is still on par with a tiny furry mammal without the tiny brain inside. When they realize that their sales numbers are terrible, they may reconsider. In the meantime, oh, well. Torrents for all, I guess.
Posted by Chief on December 4th, 2007 at 8:07 pm.You’re absolutely right - also, there’s nothing in Apple’s contract that is exclusive or prohibits NBC from launching hulu or nbc.com to try and draw people away from iTunes … the problem is why couldn’t they do both? So basically, they throw away revenue from Apple to spend hundreds of millions launching a new site … a new site that requires you to use Windows XP only (no Vista even), NO Macs, NO Linux - the files have to viewed in 48 HOURS or it’s dead and shows are only up for 1 WEEK and of course ads … nothing wrong with ads but one reviewer pointed out he watched some show where they only showed ONE ad like 6 times throughout the show!
This thing is something a lawyer would design not by someone who likes to watch TV.
NBC’s stand might make more sense if there was a freakin’ elephant in the room - TORRENTS.
1st choice - iTunes (70%)
Posted by jbelkin on December 4th, 2007 at 8:17 pm.2nd choice - torrent (20%)
3rd choice - not watching (5%)
4th choice - wait for DVD (4.9%)
5th choice - hulu (0.1%)