NBC Universal walks on iTunes Store
NBC Universal, the provider of about 40% of the videos downloaded on the iTunes Store, is calling it splits with the Apple retail site.
The media beehive apparently pulled out over pricing and piracy concerns. Universal Music Group, which belongs to France’s Vivendi, walked last month.
The New York Times says this could be big trouble for Steve Jobs and company:
The defiant moves by NBC Universal and Universal Music could embolden other media companies that have been less than thrilled with Apple’s policies. NBC Universal was the second company to sign an agreement with Apple to sell content on iTunes, and its contract stipulated that Apple receive notice of plans to cancel 90 days before the expiration date. … Assuming similar provisions in deals negotiated with media companies like CBS, Discovery and the News Corporation, a parade of 90-day windows will be coming due.
No NBC shows made the TV-episode top 10 this morning. In fact, none of the shows came from the Big Four networks. The best-selling NBC shows on the iTunes Store include “Heroes” and “The Office.”
The Just an Online Minute blog adds this:
The news, which comes as NBC and News Corp. are gearing up to launch their own Web TV service, Hulu, shows that more Internet TV sites don’t necessarily mean more options for consumers. On the contrary, it indicates that networks want to exercise tighter control over the Web distribution of their programs.
The videos won’t come down until the end of the year and, of course, talks continue. Don’t bet against a last-minute deal.
Update 9/1: NBC Uni’s online video joint venture with News Corp. gets a name and launches a beta.
Update 9/20: NBC Uni unveils NBC Direct, a service that allows consumers to download TV shows on the night they air. The files are good for a week, only.
Joost’s Volpi: We’re liberating P2P
The CEO of CBS-backed Joost just got some hard-won video face time from CBS-backed web site WallStrip.
Joost has “excited the imagination of programming partners like CBS … and investors like CBS,” host Lindsay Campbell says, applying a bit of deft irony before beginning the short but interesting Volpi video interview.
“Everything on Joost is legitimate,” Mike Volpi says, separating the Joost concept from YouTube. “All our content providers are professional.”
Of Joost content ads: “The promise we make to the user is, We’ll show you ads and we’ll ask you not to skip them, but we will show much less ads (sic) and we’ll show stuff that’s much more relevant to you as a viewer.” (He needs a “sic” or two, but how’s our Italian?)
Of (P2P): A fascinating technology. … There is a culture associated with it which in its origins can be thought of as a piracy culture. Theft is wrong. You shouldn’t steal content. I don’t see a reason why a technology inherently has to be coupled with a given culture. We’re actually liberating (it) to a much more legal and broadbased use.”
So, pro-cutie Campbell asks, what are you doing to make Joost cool? “The way the logo looks to the type of programming we have on it. … We started with an invitation-only model. We went with a European-ish feel which we thought would appeal to a particular generation. … We like to be cool.”
Asked about a series of technologies and personalities, she asks for his take on Ann Coulter. “I don’t know who Anne Coulter is,” he says with what appears to be a straight face. OK. Maybe we should be talking anime …
(Market tip: WallStrip is worth a look if you’re into finance in a “Mad Money” kind of way.)
Update 10/6: Joost went public with its beta; come one come all.
Blu-ray bitch-slapped
Paramount and DreamWorks Animation’s stated reasons for going all HD DVD — as in no Blu-ray — don’t make much sense. Most of the mainstream press ate up their press release and left it at that. A couple of trade journalists nailed down the likely cause: that the HD DVD manufacturers paid the studios something like $150 million to make this stunner of a deal happen. I didn’t see the receipt and Paramount had no comment.
In any case, the demise of the high-definition format war has been called off. This can only mean several more years of format foolishness.
Paramount’s Brad Gray and DreamWorks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg both talked up the affordability of the HD DVD format. True for now, but not for long. Entry-level player prices are headed straight down in both formats. If you can commit to paying $25-$35 or so a pop for titles, the price difference between lower-priced players can’t be all that important. The Blu-ray “300″ disc is cheaper than the HD DVD.
Katzenberg said the decision served “a key segment of our audience — families.” Hard to buy that one. If anything, families would be best served by making titles available in the same format that kiddie powerhouse Disney uses.
Another argument for HD DVD over Blu-ray can be found in a quick mention in the press release, which hails HD DVD’s “market-ready technology.”
Related story: Fox skeds 29 Blu-ray exclusives for ‘07.
Home video blog: DVD Spin Doctor
10% of consumers prefer downloads
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the DVD industry’s cheerleading squad, just released a study showing that consumers prefer watching a movie on DVD or TV instead of downloading it.
The video industry trades both positioned this bit of non-news as “just 10% preferred to watch a movie via streaming or downloading.”
Download Movies 101 finds it surprising that 10% of consumers actually do prefer downloading over just spinning a disc. The number probably is partially explained by the fact that all of the respondents reported they watched three or more hours of streaming video a week — read, YouTube.
The news stories didn’t say how the survey question(s) were phrased, but here’s betting it didn’t go like this:
“Would you prefer to download a rented movie for $3.99 and watch it right away on your computer or TiVo, or pay twice as much to rent a used disc that you have to pick up and return — or wait days for in the mail.”
When you consider something like 5% of the computer world is on Macs, that 10% looks a bit more promising.
“It was interesting to learn that while consumers are embracing digital entertainment, DVD remains the most popular means for viewing video content in the home,” said DEG co-chairman Matt Lasorsa of New Line.
Did DEG seriously expect to find anything else?
One interesting result: 24% said they would pay to watch a movie online (or burn a DVD) at the same time the movie runs in theaters — what the biz calls day and date.
The SmithGeiger-conducted study “Online Content: New Pathways of Discovery and Use” surveyed 1,035 broadband users in the U.S., ages 18 to 49.
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Google Video down the ‘Tube
Google, the proud new owner of YouTube, will pull the plug on its online video store Wednesday
Google Video tried to make money on sales or rentals of downloadable content such as new and old CBS television shows, Charlie Rose and pro basketball.
A Google spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that the move “is a reaffirmation of our commitment to building out our ad-supported monetization models for video.”
Indie filmmakers had been invited to sell their works via Google Video as an alternative distribution channel.
Customers got the word Friday via email. Oddly, Google Video never left beta since its launch at the 2006 CES.
Update 10/13: Google reportedly is in online video talks with the “American Idol” format creator.
