A deal between HBO and Apple to get content on to iTunes has been rumoured for a few days now, but has finally been announced and already begun in a joint statement by both companies.
The deal sees some of the most popular HBO shows, including The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood and Rome, Flight of the Conchords and The Wire appear on iTunes from today.
Sex and the City Promo
The first show to become available through the service is Sex and the City, with all 94 episodes, or six seasons now open to purchase in anticipation of the movie version of the now cancelled show starring Sarah Jessica Parker coming out on May 30th.
None of the programmes will become available through iTunes until after they have been released on DVD, which is HBO’s way of protecting their home video profit.
President Of HBO
Henry McGee, president of HBO Video said:
“We’re very excited to make these legendary HBO programs available on the iTunes Store,”
“Whether catching up on ‘Sex and the City’ in anticipation of its upcoming movie release or reliving a favorite ‘Sopranos’ episode, we think viewers will love being able to watch these shows on their iPod or iPhone.”
Flexible Pricing
But by far the most interesting element of this new deal is the fact that for the first time, Apple has agreed to flexible pricing for TV shows after having recently agreed to the same for movie downloads.
The shows which have hour long episodes will sell for $2.99, while the half hour shows will sell for $1.99. Customers will also be able to buy full seasons of all the shows.
Although this may seem to end up being an expensive route to go down, it will usually end up being cheaper than buying the equivalent series on DVD, although you will obviously lose the ability to pass the series on to others, and will be limited to watching it on the device it was downloaded to.
NBC On Way Back?
So does this mean NBC could soon find itself back on iTunes? The two companies had a major bust up at the end of last year about Apple’s refusal to be more flexible on pricing, something which they have now capitulated to in an effort to promote the iPhone and iPod Touch.
NBC recently struck a deal with Microsoft to get content on the Zune store instead. Although there were rumours that promises of a copyright cop were behind the decision.
I expect to see Apple now make some changes to their DRM and security issues, and for NBC to then come crawling back with its tail between its legs.
