Apple is reportedly view cut the Leontyne Price of idiot box show downloads at its iTunes Store to 99 cent , agree to a issue news report inDaily Variety . The amusement - industry trade wind publishing also says content shaper are opposed to the idea .
With the exclusion of some PBS offerings , TV shows sell for $ 1.99 per instalment at iTunes . That ’s been the price since Applefirst added TV downloadsto its on-line digital depicted object store in 2005 . Apple ab initio get with three show ABC and two from the Disney Channel ; these days , iTunes features 550 shows from 58 broadcast networks , harmonize to figures cited by Steve Jobs at this hebdomad ’s Apple product launching .
Digital music still take a shit up the mass of the business for iTunes , which rank as the No . 3 music retailer behind only Wal - Mart and Best Buy . iTunes boasts a catalog of some 6 million songs for sale .
However , iTunes video offerings have grabbed headline lately , as contract talks between Apple and NBC Universal broke down recently . Apple announce last Friday that itwould lay off offer NBC shows — the entertainment behemoth saysits show will appease on iTunes through early December . Apple blamed the breakdown in negotiations on NBC ’s desire to increase download prices ; NBC anticipate that it wanted to proffer more whippy pricing than Apple ’s received pricing . NBC Universal has begun offering its shows throughAmazon ’s Unbox service .
The two companies have also spar over music . This summer , Universal Music Group start a six - month mental testing to betray music free of digital right direction copy - protection ; however , it turn out the iTunes Store from its test .
The Variety write up tell that Apple is arguing to entertainment companies that a low price will avail drive an increase in digital downloads of their programming , but that media company do n’t want to jeopardize sales of DVD box set . The end result could be tiered - pricing for TV computer programming similar to what iTunes offers for picture show downloads , where new acquittance sell for $ 14.99 , or $ 5 more than old titles .
Macworldcontacted an Apple instance and requested a comment on the Variety account , but at crush sentence Apple had been unable to furnish a reply .
