Macworld: NBC’s Return to Apple Signifies Policy Change

Macworld reports that NBC’s return to Apple, which went largely under the radar last week amid a slew of new iPod announcements, could prove to be very significant.

The report said that the announcement not only capped a year-long stalemate between the two companies, but also expanded the kinds of content available at the iTunes Store—which now includes HD episodes of the shows at $2.99 a pop, which is a buck more expensive than the SD episodes. “That variable pricing could offer a clue was to why NBC’s programming is back in the iTunes Stores. Reportedly, a clash over pricing is why the network’s shows disappeared from iTunes for more than a year.”

Some analysts believe Apple caved to NBC. “It looks like Apple came back to NBC and they [NBC] got most of what they wanted,” said James McQuivey, principle analyst at Forrester Research, in the article. “It shows that iTunes has not dominated the video landscape as much as they have with music.”

The hope here is that NBC will not start pricing episodes all over the spectrum, which destroys the simplicity of the Apple Store and could lead to higher prices for all shows, not just the HD episodes. (Frankly, we think $1.99 per episode was already a little too expensive to begin with.)

(Image credit: Engadget)

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