Little harmony between the lines

NBC Universal may pull episodes of its TV shows from the iTunes store after the two parties failed to come to agreement over a new contract, reports The New York Times.

An update has been made to this story.

At issue were NBC's desire to have more control over pricing, which is currently dictated by a one-cost-fits-all model on iTunes. The network reportedly also wanted to bundle episodes in order to sell more and increase revenue.

NBC's episodes account for 40 percent of downloads from the iTunes TV show store. Episodes will continue to be available through December, when the existing contract expires.

It's possible a new agreement could be reached between now and then, but if not, NBC TV shows will gracefully disappear from iTunes.

NBC joins corporate sibling Universal Music in announcing a severing of ties from Apple's music store. Universal announced last month that the lack of flexible pricing, which would have empowered it to put a higher price on more popular music, spurred its decision to not renew its iTunes contract.

Universal Music also added it would continue to sell music through iTunes at-will, retaining the right to pull the media at a moment's notice. It's not known whether NBC would consider a similar arrangement.

Apple says inconsistent pricing and packaged bundles would complicate the streamlined iTunes process and bite into demand.

Update: Apple later released a statement saying that instead of waiting for its contract with NBC to expire in December, the company will pull NBC shows in September.

Apple added that the crux of its disagreement with NBC revolved around NBC's desire to raise its show costs from US$ 1.99 to US$ 4.99 per episode.

NBC disputed this. "We never asked to double the wholesale price for our TV shows," stated Cory Shields, executive vice president of communications for NBC Universal.

"In fact, our negotiations were centered on our request for flexibility in wholesale pricing, including the ability to package shows together in ways that could make our content even more attractive for consumers."