MUMBAI: NBC Universal has signed a deal with Apple Computer Inc. to bring its primetime, cable, late-night and classic TV shows on Apple's iTunes online media store (www.itunes.com).
Customers can purchase and download their favorite shows, including current shows the day after they air on TV, and watch them on their computer or iPod. The new content is all available for $1.99 per episode or clip. The NBC Universal programs will be available in newly designated areas of the iTunes Music Store featuring the NBC Universal brands, including the NBC network, Sci-Fi Channel and the USA Network, states an official release.
"We are committed to helping viewers enjoy the wide breadth of our programs across an equally wide range of devices and distribution models," said NBC Universal vice chairman and GE Bob Wright. "Apple has developed a distribution platform that is attractive to consumers while at the same time providing the safeguards against theft that are so important to us and to every content provider. We are pleased to partner with them in this new venture."
NBC Universal programming now available on the iTunes Music Store spans from the 1950s to the present, including NBC's Law & Order, The Office, Surface, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Monk and Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica as well as classic TV shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dragnet, Adam-12 and Knight Rider.
iTunes now offers more than 300 episodes of 16 popular TV shows for viewing on a computer or iPod. In October, Apple had entered a deal with ABC Network to sell episodes from five current programs through iTunes.
"We're thrilled to expand the iTunes video catalog with 11 popular TV shows from NBC, USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs . "In our first two months we've sold more than three million videos, and have expanded our TV catalog from five shows to 16 shows."
NBC recently inked a deal to sell replays of its most popular shows on an on-demand basis through satellite TV provider DirecTV Group Inc. Then in November, it announced a collaboration with Sprint Nextel Corp. to make Leno's monologue and comic sketches available on mobile phones.
