iTunes sells 200 million TV shows, adds new HD TV lineup

[AppleInsider]

Apple announced Thursday that all four of the major US television networks are offering primetime programs in high definition on the iTunes Store, which has become the world's most popular online TV service with over 200 million episodes sold, including more than one million HD episodes purchased since last month.

"We've got an incredible Fall 2008 TV lineup with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas, including many of the most popular shows on TV in stunning HD," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "With over 200 million episodes sold, iTunes customers have proven they love watching television on their computer, iPod, iPhone and TV with Apple TV."

The iTunes Store features the world's largest online catalog of TV programs with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas from the major networks and television programs from over 70 cable networks including Bravo, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, ESPN, FX, HBO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Sci Fi, Showtime and USA.

Apple said the list of HD programs now available on the iTunes Store includes ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," "Desperate Housewives," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Eli Stone," "Grey's Anatomy," "Life on Mars," "Lost," "Private Practice," "Samantha Who?" and "Ugly Betty." CBS programming includes "CSI," "CSI: Miami," "CSI: New York," "NCIS" and "Numb3rs." FOX shows include "Bones," "House," "Prison Break" and "Sons of Anarchy," which airs on FX. NBC shows include "30 Rock," "Heroes," "Kath & Kim," "Knight Rider," "Law & Order: SVU," "Life," "Lipstick Jungle," "My Own Worst Enemy" and "The Office," and SCI FI Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" and "Eureka," and USA Network's "In Plain Sight," "Monk," "Psych" and "The Starter Wife."

Standard definition television shows on the iTunes Store are $1.99 per episode, while HD programs from ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX are $2.99 per episode. Many series offer a season pass option which allows customers to purchase entire seasons at a discounted price.

The iTunes Store digital media catalog now spans over eight million songs, over 30,000 TV episodes and over 2,500 films including 600 in high definition.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Codemattic]

great, now let us rent HD movies on our macs wo needing Apple TV. And let us rent tv seasons instead of having to buy them. Oh, and "first".

[rogerborn]

BEWARE

If the show or movie you want from iTunes does not have CC
on the title page, there is no captioning at all.

for most of us who are hard of hearing, CC is vital to have.
all of the movies and shows do have CC, but iTunes strips it out.

do not pay for iTunes shows or movies that lacks CC

i have repeatedly told Apple about this, but have not received a response from them yet.

rogerborn

[Cedric]

What about enabling people outside US (eg. in Switzerland) to purchase and rent movies thorugh iTunes? PLEASE!

[Virgil-TB2]

What about getting something done about the DRM issue on iTunes music first? There are far more people who download (or try to) music from iTunes than AppleTV watchers.

How is it that years after DRM free music was "just around the corner" nothing has changed at all? There are even independent labels that have long been in favour of DRM free music that still have FairPlay on all their iTunes tracks.

And what about Amazon and the other sites that have the DRM free music? Let's see a law-suit against the music oligarchy Apple. iTunes is pretty much the least "free" music supplier there is these days.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Cedric

What about enabling people outside US (eg. in Switzerland) to purchase and rent movies thorugh iTunes? PLEASE!

That is a very slow turning wheel. The problem there is that distribution rights are often sold off piecemeal by country, so you're dealing with a different company to negotiate those rights for each country. The old media companies just don't get it, and that's who Apple has to deal with.

[hittrj01]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

What about getting something done about the DRM issue on iTunes music first? There are far more people who download (or try to) music from iTunes than AppleTV watchers.

How is it that years after DRM free music was "just around the corner" nothing has changed at all? There are even independent labels that have long been in favour of DRM free music that still have FairPlay on all their iTunes tracks.

And what about Amazon and the other sites that have the DRM free music? Let's see a law-suit against the music oligarchy Apple. iTunes is pretty much the least "free" music supplier there is these days.

The DRM Apple has on their music isn't their choice at this point. The label companies still require it for iTunes music when they don't for other outlets like Amazon or Napster. The reason is that the label companies do not like the near monopoly Apple has had in the music business with the iPods, and no matter how much money they make off of iTunes, still want to see it go down, so they will do everything they can to make competitors more attractive to consumers.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

And what about Amazon and the other sites that have the DRM free music? Let's see a law-suit against the music oligarchy Apple. iTunes is pretty much the least "free" music supplier there is these days.

That only makes sense if you make change it to the Music Studio Cartel, sans EMI, which is shunning Apple from offering DRM-free audio. But it's a free market and they have a right to sell their music how they want to sell it. If that means trying to pull the iTS dominance away by offering DRM-free, higher-bitrate and often cheaper audio than iTS, just to have Apple sell more iPods, then let them.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by solipsism

That only makes sense if you make change it to the Music Studio Cartel, sans EMI, which is shunning Apple from offering DRM-free audio. But it's a free market and they have a right to sell their music how they want to sell it. If that means trying to pull the iTS dominance away by offering DRM-free, higher-bitrate and often cheaper audio than iTS, just to have Apple sell more iPods, then let them.

Link please? Were you sitting in on the negotiations?

[bazokajoe_2k]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

What about getting something done about the DRM issue on iTunes music first? There are far more people who download (or try to) music from iTunes than AppleTV watchers.

How is it that years after DRM free music was "just around the corner" nothing has changed at all? There are even independent labels that have long been in favour of DRM free music that still have FairPlay on all their iTunes tracks.

And what about Amazon and the other sites that have the DRM free music? Let's see a law-suit against the music oligarchy Apple. iTunes is pretty much the least "free" music supplier there is these days.

iTunes Plus, high quality DRM-free music, has been constantly growing in size since it's inception. It's a great source of DRM free music. Apple has the option there for labels and artists who want to use it. Your anger is completely misdirected.

Steve Jobs has gone on record saying he'd sell the music DRM-free if he could. It's record labels that won't hop on the bandwagon.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by hittrj01

The DRM Apple has on their music isn't their choice at this point. The label companies still require it for iTunes music when they don't for other outlets like Amazon or Napster. The reason is that the label companies do not like the near monopoly Apple has had in the music business with the iPods, and no matter how much money they make off of iTunes, still want to see it go down, so they will do everything they can to make competitors more attractive to consumers.

What is your basis for this reasoning? Why would the music labels want to stop the place where they are selling most? That sound a trifle fishy. Have you ever thought that maybe it is because whatever you purchase on iTunes can't be played on any other non-Apple device? It may be a reaction to Apple's policy not some vast music label conspiracy to bring down Apple.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by bazokajoe_2k

iTunes Plus, high quality DRM-free music, has been constantly growing in size since it's inception. It's a great source of DRM free music. Apple has the option there for labels and artists who want to use it. Your anger is completely misdirected.

Steve Jobs has gone on record saying he'd sell the music DRM-free if he could. It's record labels that won't hop on the bandwagon.

Why then doesn't Steve Jobs let the music we buy from him be playable on other devices? -problem solved.

[Ireland]

Headline a tad misleading, if you get me.

[bazokajoe_2k]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Why then doesn't Steve Jobs let the music we buy from him be playable on other devices? -problem solved.

If you buy it from iTunes Plus, you can.

Unless you have an old piece of hardware that can't play AAC files, and that's your problem not Apple's.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by solipsism

That only makes sense if you make change it to the Music Studio Cartel, sans EMI, which is shunning Apple from offering DRM-free audio. But it's a free market and they have a right to sell their music how they want to sell it. If that means trying to pull the iTS dominance away by offering DRM-free, higher-bitrate and often cheaper audio than iTS, just to have Apple sell more iPods, then let them.

Well, yeah. That was essentially my point.

The music cartel or oligarchy or whatever you want to call it is purposely trying to sink iTunes and Apple. In my country this kind of collusion is illegal, I thought it was in the USA also. If it isn't it certainly should be.

I think Apple has been "understanding" enough and tried to negotiate for far too long. I would seriously like to see a law suit launched against the cartel. Even if it wouldn't win, the resulting publicity would do the same job anyway. Once it became obvious even to Joe the Plumber that what they are doing is highly unethical, they will fold like a house of cards and swear up and down that it was their idea to do so.

Let's put some actual pressure on the companies causing what is probably the number one gripe of Apples customers. Unless (like many believe), Apple doesn't really give a crap about it's customers.

[teckstud]

If you buy it from iTunes Plus, you can.

YEah?- provided you pay even more for this privelege.

Unless you have an old piece of hardware that can't play AAC files, and that's your problem not Apple's

.
I'm talking the DRM files which most people buy for 99cents. What other devices play those files?

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by bazokajoe_2k

iTunes Plus, high quality DRM-free music, has been constantly growing in size since it's inception.

This is a very large overstatement in fact. Large amounts of even EMI tracks are still not DRM free and most new releases are FairPlay only. As someone who watches daily and buys a heck lot of iTunes content (only DRM free), I am fairly certain of my interpretation.

DRM free track conversion has slowed down considerably lately, and as I stated, several independent labels who have long wanted their stuff to be DRM free still have only FairPlay tracks available on iTunes.

Originally Posted by bazokajoe_2k

It's a great source of DRM free music. Apple has the option there for labels and artists who want to use it. Your anger is completely misdirected.

Again, you are kind of spinning this a certain way.
I know it's the music cartel that is at fault at the end of the day, I said that right up front. But Apple also has a certain responsibility here.

The situation now is that the music cartel is supplying other outlets with DRM free tracks while refusing to supply iTunes with the same tracks. When that happened, the logical assumption was that it was "only a matter of time" until the same tracks appeared on iTunes.

Well it's been a very long time now and they haven't appeared. IMO if Apple really cares about it's customers it's time to actually do something about it rather than just sit back and take this kind of behaviour which is borderline illegal at best.

It's as if GM came out with a new car that didn't pollute but only allowed favoured distributors to carry it even though it *could* be carried by any of their distributors. It's clearly unethical behaviour at best, and should be challenged legally.

That is my argument. That Apple has a certain responsibility here, and that it's time to actually fight for their customers instead of just playing the waiting game.

[GregoriusM]

Originally Posted by teckstud

YEah?- provided you pay even more for this privelege.

.
I'm talking the DRM files which most people buy for 99cents. What other devices play those files?

There is always the option of burning to CD, and doing whatever you want with the music.

Elegant? No.

Doable? Yes.

Do I want this all to change to DRM Free Plus tunes? Yes.

Do I want to buy my music at any less than 256 Kb AAC, as in MP3? No.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

Well, yeah. That was essentially my point.

The music cartel or oligarchy or whatever you want to call it is purposely trying to sink iTunes and Apple. In my country this kind of collusion is illegal, I thought it was in the USA also. If it isn't it certainly should be.

I think Apple has been "understanding" enough and tried to negotiate for far too long. I would seriously like to see a law suit launched against the cartel. Even if it wouldn't win, the resulting publicity would do the same job anyway. Once it became obvious even to Joe the Plumber that what they are doing is highly unethical, they will fold like a house of cards and swear up and down that it was their idea to do so.

Let's put some actual pressure on the companies causing what is probably the number one gripe of Apples customers. Unless (like many believe), Apple doesn't really give a crap about it's customers.

Gotcha. I thought you were saying that Apple was forcing the DRM against the studio's wishes, which obviously isn't logical. As for being illegal. that is a 'can of worms' I don't think Apple would benefit from if they tried to go that route. They still have iTS dominance do to its convenience, and their HW is still the prime choice for music, regardless of where or how it was purchased.

But I think the real clincher is that the music studios have a pretty easy out, IMO. They could easily say that they want to offer DRM-free music to Apple the way it does with Amazon, but Apple wasn't willing to abide by the same rules as Amazon. In a free market, the studios are in the right, as far as I can see. For all we know—and this something I expect all of the record companies to have done when they signed with Amazon—they have offered Apple DRM free music, but requested that they have control over pricing. In the Amazon-Record Studios mash up, Amazon is their bitch. They had nothing but dwindling CD sales and the studios are still making bank from Apple so I'd say this was the only good strategic move on they had left... but will it work in the long run?


PS: Hasn't iTunes Plus been dropped to 99¢ to compete better with Amazon Music Store? If so, that is one win for the consumer.
PPS: I am already so sick of the term "Joe the Plumber" that I may just so Super Mario with a lead pipe on the next person that says it.

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by teckstud

YEah?- provided you pay even more for this privelege.

iTunes Plus tracks are not more, they are in fact the same price as regular iTunes songs. It took me all of 5 seconds to figure that out. Go to the iTunes Music Store and click the "iTunes Plus" link on the right. This section has many, many albums from EMI's catalog and a lot of indie labels. And you will see, they are in fact $0.99 a song and they are also higher quality, encoded at twice the bitrate (256kbps AAC).

You sound like nothing more than an ignorant troll. Do a little research before opening your mouth.

[bloggerblog]

I consider myself a heavy Apple TV user, I have no cable or satellite, all I have is an Apple TV and I spend about 2 hours in front of it each day!
I strongly believe that Apple should provide a monthly membership option to watch any TV Show, or even better, any rental movie. If Apple goes that route, then the Apple TV would not be a 'hobby' anymore.
The ability to rent tv shows would also be a big plus.
The problem with purchasing online, is I can't sell them! If I had DVDs I can sell them on eBay or Craigslist, but with digital I'm stuck with whatever I purchase, I can't even lend videos to friends.

[TenoBell]

Originally Posted by teckstud

What is your basis for this reasoning? Why would the music labels want to stop the place where they are selling most? That sound a trifle fishy. Have you ever thought that maybe it is because whatever you purchase on iTunes can't be played on any other non-Apple device? It may be a reaction to Apple's policy not some vast music label conspiracy to bring down Apple.

YEah?- provided you pay even more for this privelege.

I'm talking the DRM files which most people buy for 99cents. What other devices play those files?

Teckstud you really need to stop talking so much and listen much more.

You probably weren't paying attention to Apple news when they were battling the record labels a couple of years back. But this is all common knowledge.

The record labels want Apple to allow them to charge a premium for their most popular music artists. To make up for the loss in CD sales. Apple did not agree to this and continues to sell all songs for .99.

The music labels want to break Apples hold on music downloads so they can force Apple to renegotiate and sell music for whatever price they choose. Steve Jobs wrote a public letter saying he thought music DRM is a bad idea. He would prefer iTunes sold all music with no DRM, but the record labels won't allow it.

When EMI first agreed to sell DRM-less music, iTunes plus was $1.99 for no DRM and higher bit rate. After other music services begun to sell DRM free music iTunes Plus was lowered to .99 like every other song.

[solipsism]

. . . .

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

When EMI first agreed to sell DRM-less music, iTunes plus was $1.99 for no DRM and higher bit rate. After other music services begun to sell DRM free music iTunes Plus was lowered to .99 like every other song.

Minor quibble, iTunes+ was $1.29.