Apr 17

NBC Universal Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff: "We'd love to be on iTunes. It has a great customer experience. We'd love to figure out a way to distribute our content on iTunes." Obviously NBC did, until they walked out. In order for them to come back, they want more money per show (still) to "reflect the full value of the product." And for iTunes to block you from loading pirated content onto your iPod. Sounds insane right?

"If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products."

What does that have to do with NBC selling shows through iTunes that would be appropriately locked down with DRM—thereby making money on those next-gen products? Ummm... we're not sure. Just don't count on seeing NBC Universal-produced TV shows back on iTunes for a while, since Apple's probably not gonna cave on pricing and definitely won't turn iTunes in a content filter/gatekeeper, 'cause that would kill the iPod. [Cnet via NewTeeVee]