NBC Moves to Amazon

The latest on the ongoing NBC-Apple saga is that NBC will now sell shows on Amazon’s new Unbox service, according to Engadget.

The odd thing about the initial launch is that NBC is selling shows for the same $1.99 per episode that they had cost on iTunes. In other words, there’s no evidence yet of the “flexible” (meaning higher) pricing or packaging options they had wanted from Steve Jobs.

Here’s a great quote from Engadget: “If this wasn’t a good defense for lifting DRM restrictions from video downloads, we don’t know what is: as it stands right now, people will be able to stick with their favorite NBC shows on iTunes until the middle of the season, and then get sent packing over to Unbox — meaning half of their purchased episodes will only play on an iPod or iTunes, and the other half will only play on PlaysForSure portable devices and Windows computers.”

What a mess. As always with format wars like this (see Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD, or VHS vs. Beta), the consumer loses.

NBC’s selling shows on Amazon Unbox, starting today [Engadget]

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