Apple has announced a deal with HBO to offer some of the cable channel's premium content through the iTunes store. Normally this wouldn't be all that noteworthy, but this is no ordinary content partnership. Apple has agreed to price some of the TV shows at $2.99, which is the first time the company has been willing to deviate from its standard pricing of $0.99 per song, $1.99 per TV show, and $9.99 to $14.99 per movie.
In fact, it was a squabble over standardized pricing that led NBC to stop distributing its shows through iTunes last year. not every HBO program will cost $2.99. The network is offering up Sex and the City, The Wire, and Flight of the Conchords for $1.99 per download, while The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Rome will set you back $2.99.
The move makes sense when you consider the fact that HBO charges $50 or so for 1 season of these shows on DVD, even though there are typically fewer episodes per season of an HBO show than you get from a broadcast network program. So we're hoping this isn't going to lead to a pricing free-for-all, with networks charging more for popular shows like Lost and less for shows nobody was going to pay for anyway like 'Til Death.
[via Engadget]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-13-2008 @ 2:38PM
James said...
Or you could just torrent them all.
/just sayin'
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5-13-2008 @ 4:06PM
David said...
I'm pretty sure that there already were History channel or NOVA episodes that cost 2.99 or 4.99...
I love HBO and all, but its not the first time things have cost more between 1.99 and 9.99
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5-13-2008 @ 4:17PM
Joe said...
I can't imagine paying $2.99 for a single episode of a TV show, especially one with DRM. Just record it off the TV for free, lol.
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5-13-2008 @ 6:43PM
Hany Hanna said...
How do people spend their precious time and money watching incredibly banal entertainment...how could they actually want to own it and watch it more than once? I tried to watch Sex in the City once and almost died of boredom in the first 10 minutes. Humanity must currently be in a dark age.
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