NBC Chooses Netflix, Not Apple To Lead Their Funeral Procession

NBC has announced it will not be joining Apple’s online TV revolution. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker says that 99c is too low for one viewing of it’s TV shows, although currently the price point on iTunes is $1.99 to buy the show for as many viewings as you like. Essentially NBC isn’t betting that people will watch shows more than once. Which kind of throws its commitment to DVD sales and selling shows on iTunes into new light. It’s precisely this kind of politics that turns me off. I can sign up to a monthly subscription to Netflix for $7.99 and see as many old episodes of NBC’s shows as I like, but I can’t watch new episodes for $1? The controllers of old media continue to believe they are trying to come up with a new model with the safeguard that in the meantime consumers are stuck with the old model, but the truth is that more and more people are becoming fed up with waiting for a business model that meets their needs rather than satisfies the providers demands. ABC and Fox are signed up to AppleTV, but Steve Jobs is holding firm with the 99c price point, betting that eventually all the old dogs will come around, choosing a universal business model that earns them money over obsolescence. And good for him.