1 edit | reply to Anon
Re: Greed I don't have anything against a major network trying to double its profits by selling their own recordings of TV shows to people who missed the opportunity to record the original broadcast, as long as the network doesn't try to restrain the free distribution/sharing of similar recordings made by original contemporaneous audiences without charge to others for non-commercial enjoyment. The market, offset by file sharing, will act to rein in prices and keep things reasonable for those too lazy to have recorded the original broadcasts themselves, or to download from usenet, or via p2p.
However, in the case before us, NBC is seeking to double/treble its already doubled profits (made possible by the existence of outlets such as the iTunes store) by picking the pocket of the middleman. They are seeking to raise the wholesale cost/retail price beyond supportable limits; essentially asking Apple to pay over Apples existing margins, and forcing Apple to try and recoup the loss through pricing levels that can't be supported by the extent marketplace. At $1.99 (too high), the current price of NBC's offerings through iTunes exhausts the convenience factor. At $4.99, it's outrageous, simply price-gouging, and doomed to fail leaving Apple holding the bag.
It is one thing for NBC to price themselves out of the market, as that is their right, but quite another to ask Apple to subsidize their idiocy. |
