Earlier this month, on the heels of General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Networks' decision to pull its shows from Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes store, Douglas McIntyre hypothesized on whether other networks would follow suit. (Meanwhile, NBC Universal and iTunes are reportedly still in talks. NBC Universal is responsible for about 40% of all television content currently available on iTunes). Late last week, Apple was offered tentative validation of its relationship with News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) FOX Broadcasting Network and FOX Filmed Entertainment movie distribution unit. Reuters reported that Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., told the U.K.'s Royal Television Society: "We have a pretty limited relationship with Apple and we'll see how it goes ... I assume [future negotiations] will be prickly and dicey and contentious like all negotiations are."
Another report on MacNN.com quoted Chernin as asserting "we're the ones who should determine what the fair price for our product is, not Apple." Some TV shows, currently airing on the FOX Network, have been licensed to iTunes (including Prison Break, 24, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader), but movies have not. And while the network would like a hand in the pricing, it isn't planning on pulling its shows from iTunes anytime soon. According to sources close to the matter, News Corp will not have the opportunity to renegotiate with Apple in the foreseeable future.
Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-17-2007 @ 3:34PM
H said...
This is one area I think Apple's really screwing up. They should be orienting iTunes and aTV around third party content distributors, portal-ing to the network sites like ABC's player, which is great and ad supported, as well as sites like vongo and joost, in the way they portal to YouTube. That maintains an open marketplace online between content providers, as well as an open marketplace for hardware manufacturers who want to compete with aTV and the iTunes platform.
9-17-2007 @ 9:40PM
Austin said...
So, H, you think Apple should make it easier on their competitors? Why is that? I can understand why the content providers want a broader market (to avoid this very situation), but for Apple, iTunes domination and lock-in to the iPod/Apple TV is fantastic.
The YouTube - Joost analogy is a poor one. YouTube is a phenomenon. Joost is not. Not to mention that Schmidt is on Apple's board....