Apple's iTunes TV show downloads a gift to NBC and Disney

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced late yesterday that it has sold 200 million TV episodes over its ubiquitous iTunes service. While that is quite a milestone for the company, it still pales in comparison to the billions of songs the company has sold. Still, not all iPods can display TV shows and videos. It's foolhardy to expect the entire installed base of iPods to do anything but music, although all newer models and the iPhone can download and display video programs.

The bigger news is that all that content could be seen as a pretty significant boon to some of the largest content providers -- NBC and Disney (NYSE: DIS). Disney CEO Bob Iger indicated that his company has sold "40 to 50 million" TV shows over iTunes. I won't repeat that the television viewing paradigm has shifted. Well, unless ratings firm Nielsen says it first.

Silicon Alley Insider did the math and determined that iTunes paid out about $280 million in TV show revenue sharing in the last three years, compared with NBC Universal's latest quarterly profit of $645 million. The 36-month figure of $280 million sounds a tad paltry, but in all reality, this is just the beginning. More and more consumers will get content from devices like iPods, and that amount will only grow over time. As has been the case with Apple for some time, the company is positioned to be a growing content distribution provider. Why? It was there first in almost every way.