NBC Universal Drops iTunes

An anonymous reader writes "NBC Universal has cancelled its iTunes contract and will withdraw the television shows it currently offers through the service in December, when the current contract expires. This is a huge blow for the service, as NBC is the controlling interest in Apple customer-friendly intellectual properties like The Office, Battlestar Galactica, My Name is Earl and Heroes. From the article: 'The decision to withdraw the content follows disagreements between the two firms. Apple is thought to have rejected NBC's demands for more restrictive DRM and the introduction of flexible pricing. Apple was informed of NBC Universal's decision late last night. The report states that neither Apple nor NBC Universal would comment on the matter, but said they continue to talk, "free of acrimony".'" Hey NBC: I have chosen not to have cable, but want to pay you for Heroes. Guess what my only alternative will be if you pull it from iTunes?

Comments

Your only alternative?

[ShaunC]

Hey NBC: I have chosen not to have cable, but want to pay you for Heroes. Guess what my only alternative will be if you pull it from iTunes?

Uh, watching it for free over-the-air?

Re:Your only alternative?

[MrDoh1]

Buying them legally from a store might also be another idea, novel as it may be.

Re:Your only alternative?

[Petey_Alchemist]

I think it's a fair point though. The studios, rather than hitting every market they can--DVD, iTMS, cable--have decided to forego certain sectors of the demand curve in order to curve demand as they want.

It's a battle between how studios want to deliver their content and how consumers want to receive it. Before the web, there weren't options. Now there are, and the studios have to realize that this is a battle they will eventually lose. They could offer cheap, protected, legal access to their content, but instead they're daring users to circumvent the law. Aquinas noted centuries ago that human law cannot compel the obedience of conscience. It's not like they don't know they're going to lose--they just don't want to realize it. Screw 'em.

Re:Your only alternative?

[Aladrin]

My over-the-air reception is crap. (I get a few channels with a lot of static.) My HD over-the-air is even worse. (I get 1 channel, sometimes, with a lot of corruption in the video and audio.)

I don't have any faith that this will get better because most people have cable (including me) and there really -isn't- another choice. (Satellite and cable are the same thing by different methods.)

In reality, the other options are:

A) Wait for it on DVD.
B) Watch it streamed from the site in a little 2" by 2" box.
C) Download it illegally and without commercials and in full quality, watchable wherever and whenever I like.

Gee... Wonder which most people would pick? If it wasn't for the waiting part, I'd cancel my cable service and buy the DVDs instead. I figure it'll cost the same per year (I only like a few shows) and it'll be better quality and more reliable. I just don't want to wait 6 months or a year and then try to talk to my friends about the eps... It doesn't work.

Re:Your only alternative?

[jedidiah]

It is a pretty novel idea. Most new shows aren't available like that. This particular show didn't even have that option until this week.

What about the rest of the NBC lineup?

Re:Your only alternative?

[Wanderer1]

You could stop watching the show. It's not an entitlement.

There are other businesses to support with your attention. That's my point. But breaking the US law (no matter how unfair the law is, and assuming you're in the US) shouldn't be the alternative. It isn't working. It's not a form of civil disobedience that seems to have the effect we need in order to call attention to unfair/unjust law.

W

Re:Your only alternative?

[gozar]

Sorry NBC... I'm too far away from your transmission tower. My suburban HOA won't allow for an antenna that can tune in your signal well enough.

They can't do that:

The rule (47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) has been in effect since October 1996, and it prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming. The rule applies to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas. The rule prohibits most restrictions that: (1) unreasonably delay or prevent installation, maintenance or use; (2) unreasonably increase the cost of installation, maintenance or use; or (3) preclude reception of an acceptable quality signal.

Re:Your only alternative?

[gEvil (beta)]

They could offer cheap, protected, legal access to their content, but instead they're daring users to circumvent the law.

You mean like offering the shows for viewing on their website? Oh wait, they do that already. But people like Zonk have decided that that's not good enough for him, so instead he'll resort to pirating it. I seriously doubt Zonk was purchasing the show from iTMS when it was available anyways.

Re:Your only alternative?

[heinousjay]

They allow you to watch the episode for free on their website. How much more access do you need, exactly?

It doesn't matter how entitled you feel to the entertainment. The constitution grants the copyright holder the right to make the distribution decisions. No matter how much you want that entertainment, circumventing that right is an infringement.

Re:Your only alternative?

[heinousjay]

Gee... Wonder which most people would pick?

Probably watching it on DVD. Plenty of us realize that by pirating our entertainment, we essentially have cut out the ability for them to make more. Beyond that, lots of us also realize we aren't entitled to free entertainment, and frankly, it's not so important as to be a requirement.

In my opinion (here's where I become an asshole) it takes a particularly immature mind to believe that downloading commercially sold entertainment in an illegal fashion is somehow the morally superior alternative.

Re:Your only alternative?

[jedidiah]

When the law is STUPID, it should be ignored.

We are AMERICANS, not sheep.

I get the show "legitmately". I still like to download it due to the fact that DirectTV over compresses it's network channels.

In the end, it boils down to wanting to arrest people for eating their egg from the wrong end.

Re:Your only alternative?

[Anonymous Coward]

As other posters have rightly pointed out, the free/ad-supported shows streamed from the website basically suck big rocks, quality-wise. Actually, watching a few eps of Heroes that way was what got me to buy the whole season off of iTunes -- because I wanted it with good quality, and no ads. I'm not morally outraged that NBC has pulled it -- they're welcome to cut their throats however they like. But I probably will d/l full-rez, ad-free video instead of watching the crap teaser-quality stuff on the NBC site. Yes, as the grandparent says, NBC is effectively daring me to do this, whether you like it or not. As others have pointed out, this is just market and technological reality.

By the way, do you know Zonk personally, that you're in a position to call him a liar? Or are you just being a knee-jerk stuffed shirt DRM apologist and going on the attack?

Re:Your only alternative?

[reanjr]

Or on XBox Live. They just started putting episodes of Heroes up there last week. Seems NBC already found a new channel to replace iTunes...

Re:Your only alternative?

[amper]

Here's a nice PDF from Uncle Charlie:

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish. pdf

Re:Your only alternative?

[kidgenius]

No, they can't. They may try, but they are prohibited under Federal Law from doing that. I think that Federal Law trumps some stupid little HOA bylaws. I thankfully have an understanding HOA. They know this, and when I went to put up a satellite dish, they told me where they would like it installed so as to be as unobtrusive as possible. But, they knew that if reception could not be achieved from that spot that they would have to deal with it. Fortunately, it worked just fine where they wanted it.

Re:Your only alternative?

[garcia]

Probably watching it on DVD. Plenty of us realize that by pirating our entertainment, we essentially have cut out the ability for them to make more.

That makes no fucking sense whatsoever, especially for shows on NBC. I could see if you were talking about cable network shows like Rescue Me or Monk but you're talking about free OTA shows here. If "pirating" NBC shows is somehow affecting their sponsors, then DVR users are also pirates in your eyes or is that somehow different?

I have no sympathy for the networks losing money on this. They need to come up with less expensive shows (no one should be paid $1+ million an episode for ANY TV show).

Re:Your only alternative?

[miskatonic alumnus]

I agree, laws like the DMCA are misguided and benefit the wrong people. But they have been voted into law, and the best way to fight them is to try and get them either voted back out of law, or ruled by the court to be invalid

Yeah, that's worked real well for the proponents of marijuana legalization. AFAIK, I have one life --- one. I'm not going to waste it in vain trying to change laws drawn up by millionaires. I actually don't have a problem with copyright. I do have a problem with it being extended until past the end of time, and with DRM and the DMCA, etc. These sons of bitches go too far. And who benefits? The citizenry? Of course not. Now, the ultimate seat of authority in the U.S. is we the people not we the handful of privileged wealthy with access to the higher levels of lawmaking machinery. It would appear that we the people want some changes.

Re:Your only alternative?

[NtroP]

You mean like offering the shows for viewing on their website? Oh wait, they do that already. But people like Zonk have decided that that's not good enough for him, so instead he'll resort to pirating it. I seriously doubt Zonk was purchasing the show from iTMS when it was available anyways.

I can not get television, cable or satellite TV where my house is situated in Alaska. I can barely get 1 Mb/s DSL. I have chosen to go the route of purchasing my shows off iTunes and watching them on my AppleTV. I do NOT want to watch the shows in a fucking browser window, in Flash or stutter-streamed, on my laptop! Those shows that I am interested in that I can't get legally from iTunes, I choose to get "illegally" from Bittorrent or from friends/coworkers who are able to record the shows. I put illegally in quotes because in this case it's truly a victimless crime. I want to pay for it, but they won't let me so I'm not taking revenue away from them. I am also not re-sharing it (any more than I can help since I don't seed with bittorrent) so I'm not keeping anyone else from buying it.

If the greedy fucks at NBC don't want my $2 per episode for Heroes and the Office, etc., I'll be glad to pirate them and won't feel the least bit guilty about it. I know that I don't have a "right" to watch the show, but if it's a show that interests me and everyone else is talking about it at work, I want to watch it - close to the time they watch it, not a season later when it comes out on DVD. The only reason I won't be able to watch it now is that they want to charge me more for content that is more restricted/broken than before and Apple is rightfully calling bullshit. Since I only download the shows to my iPod and AppleTV, restrictions aren't a big deal for me (it's the principal of the thing!), but I am not willing/can't afford to pay more than $2 for an episode and if they bundle crap I don't want, I won't buy it at all - I *will* pirate it. Sue me!

They are just proving over and over again that pirated goods are far superior to their DRM'd crap anyway. It's cheaper, often available sooner, in better quality and gives me the freedom to use it as I see fit. They are driving *me*, a grown adult and professional, their paying customer, away to piracy. I say good riddance to them. Stick to your guns Apple! I want to buy shows a-la-cart if I want and I am not willing to pay more! I will reward those studios that see the light. The rest can take their chances with draconian DRM, end-to-end Vista-like content controlled crap and the like. The deserve what they will get!

Any one have a contact email for these pricks?

Re:Your only alternative?

[mhall119]

So you're willing to violate NBC's copyright, but not willing to violate your HOA rules?

How is it that your HOA can restrict your means of obtaining this content for free, and you're OK with that, but NBC pulls one venue for obtaining this content for a fee, and you feel violated?

Re:Your only alternative?

[mgblst]

I will never buy another DVD, the DVD is one of the most annoying formats ever. At least with VHS I can fast forward past the boring warnings.

Re:Your only alternative?

[p7]

He can wait for the DVD release, he can use an antenna or stop watching. The implied 'I'm going to have to illegally download it.' sounds kinda whiny and entitled, especially since TV is pretty much the least restricted medium out there. Even high definition capture cards can be purchased at fairly reasonable prices.

Change this from a TV show to a software package released under the GPL, would we be as self righteous about violating the licensing.

Re:Your only alternative?

[tehcyder]

If the greedy fucks at NBC don't want my $2 per episode for Heroes and the Office, etc., I'll be glad to pirate them and won't feel the least bit guilty about it. I know that I don't have a "right" to watch the show, but if it's a show that interests me and everyone else is talking about it at work, I want to watch it - close to the time they watch it, not a season later when it comes out on DVD

So in other words, you want whatever you feel like, whenever you want it, and if you can't get it legally you don't care how you get it. This is known as throwing your toys out of the pram where I live.

I hope you're lying about the work thing and are only ten years old, because to call your attitude "adolescent" does a disservice to normal teenagers.

Re:Your only alternative?

[LunaticTippy]

I don't think that a mindless devotion to the letter of the law is helpful. I've performed acts of sodomy in states with sodomy laws, I have gone over the speed limit, I have broken drug possession laws. Yet I have harmed nobody and done nothing unethical.

In fact our society is becoming more and more fascist. Everybody breaks laws all the time, it simply cannot be avoided. Having citizens always subject to arrest for some reason or other is one of the tools of a fascist regime.

This country would be a much sadder place if everybody who found laws offensive just sucked it up. From the founding fathers to slavery, prohibition, equal rights - I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to countless people courageous enough to break unfair laws.

I don't mean to glamorize copyright battles by comparing them to obviously greater things, but I guess now that our basic rights have been established (not that we can be complacent, fascism is not far away) we can shift our fights to luxuries.

You can obey our media overlords and bought-and-sold legislature all you want, but please don't claim a moral high ground over someone who does not.

Re:Your only alternative?

[bentcd]

Wait, we get to choose which laws we obey now? Of course you do. It's called free will. Now, your choice does not come with a complimentary "get out of jail free" card so choose wisely.

Re:Your only alternative?

[phcrack]

I'm currently based overseas, without access to decent television. Since they don't allow you to watch them online unless you're in the US, iTunes was my only option for watching the shows while still giving back to the people making them. Americans complain and complain about people overseas pirating stuff, but continue to refuse to sell it overseas. I figure, if you don't give someone a way to pay for the stuff you're selling, what right do you have to complain when they don't.

I make things for a living that people might want to pirate, and would feel bad about it if someone was pirating, I shouldn't pirate either. I rent movies I want to see, buy software I want to use, and try to let others know that not paying for these things is stealing. I also don't tell people from other countries that they can't buy my products though.

Re:Your only alternative?

[amper]

Yeah, that's worked real well for the proponents of marijuana legalization.

Well, the problem with marijuana is that not only do a large proportion of people in this country not have any problem with attempting to enforce their stunted versions of morality upon the general population, but that those nanny-state proponents generally do not have the mental capacity to understand the actual issues involved, whether those issues are corporate welfare/pork sponsorship of Cannabis criminalization, the costs to our society for attempting the subsequent "War On Drugs", the incredible loss of revenue and resources due to our inability to legally grow Cannabis sativa, or other problems that result from these misguided policies, such as the suffering inflicted upon those whose use of marijuana (and while we're at it, we may as well include Papaver somniferum) whose greatly reduce the physical pains of dealing with chronic disease. I would hesitate to place marijuana in the same category as copyright infringment.

Re:Your only alternative?

[sacrilicious]

Wait, we get to choose which laws we obey now?

Replace "get to" with "have to". As the GP pointed out, we are all being systematically criminalized. You need to think for yourself now... try it.

Nice editorializing

[heinousjay]

Hey NBC: I have chosen not to have cable, but want to pay you for Heroes. Guess what my only alternative will be if you pull it from iTunes? Watch it over the air as NBC is a broadcast station? Failing that, watch it on NBC.com? Failing that, buy it on DVD?

Well, I don't know about other shows

[Kierthos]

But I watched most of Season 1 of Heroes on their official site. Here's hoping Season 2 continues that way.

Use an Antenna

[Jaguar777]

Hey NBC: I have chosen not to have cable, but want to pay you for Heroes. Guess what my only alternative will be if you pull it from iTunes? I know you meant to imply your only alternative would be illegally downloading the show, but you have plenty of options if you really must watch Heroes.

1) Use an Antenna. It's called broadcast TV.
2) Go to a friends house. You do have friends right?
3) Go out to a public place that has Heroes on their TV.
4) Wait to buy the DVD's.

Most of these options don't even involve paying NBC.

Yes, a little hyperbole in my reply, but no more than "Guess what my only alternative will be".

Re:Use an Antenna

[LWATCDR]

1. What if you can get an NBC station with your Antenna. I know that I can not where I live.
2. I think your friends will get a little ticked off with the weekly vists.
3. HUH????
4. So I need to wait until the end of the season.

I think NBC is makeing a huge mistake.
1. More DRM on iTunes? People you BROADCAST IT OVER THE AIR. I make DRM free recordings of your shows on my computer NOW! They Torrents are out NOW. They are not coming from iTunes.
2. Flexible pricing? You mean jack up the pricing. Oh well. As I said I can get it for free now. I guess I will start recording more shows with my computer and buy less with iTunes.

Dumb...

Re:Use an Antenna

[heinousjay]

2. I think your friends will get a little ticked off with the weekly vists.

You have pretty shitty friends if they can't handle you for one hour a week. Or you're a pretty shitty friend. Either way.

Universal are smart and this is all they could do.

[kiwioddBall]

Lets face it, Universal own the content, and content rules. They haven't been able to distribute the content how they want with Apple, so they are calling Apples bluff. The thing is, if they market another service well enough (and it does come down to marketing) and that service has the content, then they will get exactly what they want - more than one service selling prime content and therefore a competitive market for selling content meaning better margin for them.

Universal are in a losing situation by having their content in only one marketplace.

As much as I love Apple and their ethics, it was overdue. The only way that Universal can lose is if they fail to market the new service they have selling the content.

OP is a bit naive thinking he won't be able to buy Universal content any more!!

Yet another option

[MarkGriz]

Maybe get out of the house and find a girlfriend.

Failing that, at least spend more time surfing for porn.

Err, try again?

[Nodamnnicknamesavial]

"Hey NBC: I have chosen not to have cable, but want to pay you for Heroes. Guess what my only alternative will be if you pull it from iTunes?"

Getting cable.

I'm broke, and I have CHOSEN to not get a job, so my only alternative is to steal? Rubbish.

I paid for iTunes because it gave me what I wanted

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure there will be other alternatives like antenna or going somewhere else but the fact remains:

1) I paid for a ton of NBC shows on itunes the last few seasons, literally spending hundreds of dollars. I did this because I liked having them in reasonably high def, commercial free, reasonably close to the time of initial broadcast and using a program I already was comfortable with little or no work on my part past the initial purchase.
2) I had planned to do it again.
3) Now I probably will either not watch the shows at all. The next most likely solution is to download a torrent.

Its not that there arn't other ways to watch it. Its that none of the other ways to watch it provide the right mix of convienence, quality and lack of interruption. Having the shows on itunes didn't give me exactly what I wanted, but it gave me enough that I was willing to pay for it. If I have to install another program(and its associated additional drm and god knows what else), or put up with ads, or put up with low quality broadcasts, or put up with having to watch it at a specific time, or put up with a cable provider/dvr, or wait 6-18 months for a DVD or any of that other stuff, then its just not worth the time or the money.

I want it on my computer, when its released, with minimal hassle and no interruption. For that service, I'm willing to pay. Otherwise, its not worth it.

No low-cost option left

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch it for free over-the-air? No such thing in Canada (the channels list is pathetic).
Watch it free on NBC's website? No, they filter IPs and only allow americans.
Buy it on the iTunes Store? Nope, we still don't have movies and TV shows in the Canadian store.

My only other options are either cable or satellite, and both are forcing us to pay for "packages" that include 200 channels we don't want to get the 10 channels we want.

Guess what's my other alternative?

Doctor Evil said it best

[Dachannien]

Why make billions, when we can make..... millions?

more restrictive DRM?

[mmeister]

One of the reasons given was that NBC Universal wanted to add more restrictive DRM to the shows and Apple said no.

If Universal would win that battle, then WE ALL lose out. Remember, this is the same network that f*cked with its time schedule so shows ended at 8:31 and such to try and f*ck Tivo owners. That shows you just what they think about the viewer. I'm sure the new DRM ideas would have us in mind, as in how can we make this experience more painful for the content viewer.

This will just make it more likely that I won't watch NBC shows. I am personally tired of networks dictating what time and where I should be watching their content. That's so last century thinking. Yeah, you can go to NBC.com, if you don't mind being tethered to streaming content, which sucks if you're not on the net when you have time/want to watch a show.

Accuracy

[samkass]

I know I'm not new here, but I'd just like to say that the article is self-contradictory. NBC is not pulling anything off of iTunes for months at the earliest, and contract negotiations to keep them on the site continue.

In other words, this article can be summarized as "NBC, looking for some leverage in ongoing negotiations with Apple over iTunes, has called reporters to float the idea of pulling out of iTunes altogether."

Holy mealy-mouthed buzzwords

[p3d0]

NBC is the controlling interest in Apple customer-friendly intellectual properties How about "NBC owns the copyright to Apple-customer-friendly shows"?

re: iTunes/QT for Windows

[King_TJ]

I've got to say, I'm pretty lost as to why some people keep making these comments?

I know iTunes and Windows Vista had some issues - but that's not really shocking, considering how many other things aren't quite Vista compatible.

Overall though, geez... Quicktime player has been used in Windows since version 3.1, as a de-facto standard for playing multimedia files off CD. It's not exactly something Apple just "slapped together to say they had a Windows version".

Safari for Windows? Nothing special there, but it's also a very first attempt at doing it for the platform, and it's FREE software too. As others pointed out, it's probably relased right now mainly to allow easier development for the iPhone from a Windows box, plus giving people the option to use the same browser they have on their Mac, if they so desire. Apple's not auto-deleting your copies of Firefox and IE 7 just because you installed it or anything, so why the big fuss?

The option everyone's forgetting

[KingSkippus]

If iTunes isnt willing to play, maybe NBC has some other thoughts on how to get the shows out there.

Of course there are, but they all revolve around NBC wanting more money and more control over how, where and when you can watch their shows.

I bought every season available of Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, The Office, and My Name is Earl on iTunes. I like the shows, but apparently, that's not good enough. Apparently, NBC wants me to be so desperate to watch the shows that I would support their outright greed.

Well I for one am not a slave to my television. Unless NBC shapes up and gives me the opportunity to pay a reasonable price for seeing their shows in a timely manner and in a fashion that I wish, I guess I won't be watching them any more. Oh well, I guess that frees up more time that I can use for other interesting things.

These networks and media companies just kill me. They act like if they only provide one expensive and inconvenient legal avenue for me to watch their shows, I'll just have to suck it up because they say so. Then you have the people like the submitter who imply that they'll just resort to illegal avenues to watch the show.

Everyone seems to be forgetting option number three, the option I'll be choosing should NBC keep this silliness up: Simply don't watch the shows. Frankly, it looks to me like that is NBC's ultimate goal, and if that's the case, I'm happy to oblige.

Re:The option everyone's forgetting

[forgoil]

The bittorrent versions comes without commercials. That is what geeks watch. Their choice isn't between ads and $1.99/episode. Their choice is between $0.00/episode bittorrent or $1.99/episode iTunes, because this is what people want:

1. They want it freakin' now, no waiting, not even for a few days (rules out DVD)
2. No ads killing the flow/suspense/illusion of the show (fuck you TV!)
3. Straight to their TV (AppleTV, xBox, WMC, HTPC, MythTV, etc)

iTunes is 2.5/3 (because of the DRM), DVD 1/3, TV 1/3...

Look what iTunes did to music, maybe it could do the same to TV series. I'd love for a production company to release their TV series directly to iTunes, no TV... (blu-ray/HD-DVD would be nice though, for rewatching it :)).

aw screw it, rant off!

Re:The option everyone's forgetting

[beckerist]

Want to bet this has something to do with it?

Re:The option everyone's forgetting

[lambadomy]

What are you talking about? Of course it is worthwhile if they get the whole $1.99. Look at the chart. They don't even get $300k for 30 seconds for the #10 show. Even if we assumed that every one of these shows we're talking about here did pull in $300k/30 seconds an episode, here's what we get:

Half hour show - 8 minutes of commercials - 4.8 million dollars. We'll double that for the hour shows.

2 million geeks...$1.99 each...even if they only get half of that they're increasing their revenue by 10 or 20%. The only way this could be bad for them is if their advertising revenue goes down at the same time (due to lower ratings).

Anyway, the most likely explanation of all of this isn't that it isn't worthwhile, it's that they've got their own distribution system coming down the pipe.

Re:The option everyone's forgetting

[Just Some Guy]

I bought every season available of Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, The Office, and My Name is Earl on iTunes.

Well I for one am not a slave to my television.

Ummm....

Re:The option everyone's forgetting

[reidconti]

Is this intentionally funny? You do realize how Microsoft screwed their PlaysForSure customers with the Zune, right? Why would you spend a single penny on their media technology, knowing they're likely to do the same thing again?

Can't wait to see NBC's online sales dry up.

Here's what Apple says

[gnasher719]

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/08/31itunes.h tml

"Apple® today announced that it will not be selling NBC television shows for the upcoming television season on its online iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com). The move follows NBC's decision to not renew its agreement with iTunes after Apple declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99. ABC, CBS, FOX and The CW, along with more than 50 cable networks, are signed up to sell TV shows from their upcoming season on iTunes at $1.99 per episode."

Retail price would increase to $4.99 per episode

[shmlco]

"This really upsets me that they would do this to their paying customers"

According to Ars, the issue is that they want you to pay more. A LOT more. To quote, "Apple declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99."

So how does $5 a pop sound? At that rate, a typical series would cost over $100 purchased digitally, as opposed to buying the DVDs for $30-$50.

One thing's for sure, if hulu has this kind of idiotic pricing structure, then it's just SURE to be a success...