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December 07, 2005

iTunes Music Store Adds NBC, USA, and Sci-Fi

If you haven't already noticed, the iTunes Music Store is now offering content from NBC (including what they call "Vintage NBC" content), USA, and Sci-Fi in addition to the ABC and Disney Channel content that they already had in the TV show section of the store.

The new content includes several current NBC shows (The Office, Law & Order, etc.) as well as vintage shows like Dragnet and Knight Rider. USA has provided iTunes with episodes of Monk and Sci-Fi has done the same with Battlestar Galactica.

Although there are still many other shows and many other networks that would be nice to have on the iTunes Music Store, this is definitely a big boost for Apple in terms of branching out into the portable video market. The only problem is, they may be branching out at a price point that's a bit over what most consumers would expect.

This new price model means that a one hour episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien will set you back $9.99 while you can get 5-15 min. clips for $1.99. The Tonight Show offers the same types of short clips for $1.99 and leaves it at that. Other than these two oddly-priced additions, most of the new content is sold for the usual $1.99/video model, which is a relief considering that at $9.99 an episode you could be paying for TiVo service several times over and forgetting iTunes altogether.

So, overall, what does this mean for the consumer? It means the future of downloadable video content and portable video media is going to cost a whole lot more than ever expected if the networks have their say.

My advice is to buy what is reasonable for you. If the convenience of one hour of Conan delivered straight to your iPod is worth $9.99 to you, then go ahead and make the purchase. However, if you're like most people and think that this price point is just a little too high for the content that is being offered, simply refrain from buying, wait for Apple to let NBC know that their show has been downloaded a grand total of five times globally, and let the situation attend to itself.

Posted by Alan Joyce at 07:26 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack