TvRentals
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Apple pulls 99-cent iTunes TV show rentals
Apple has pulled all US$0.99 TV show rentals from the iTunes Store and Apple TV. As first noticed by AppleInsider, all mention of TV show rentals has also disappeared from Apple's knowledge-base articles. One titled "iTunes Store: How to rent TV shows" has been completely removed, though you can view a cached version of it here. Apple's Apple TV page has also been updated, removing all mention of TV rentals. An Apple spokesperson confirmed to All Things D the reason: iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows. iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose. When Apple announced TV rentals last year Fox, ABC, the Disney Channel and BBC America were the first to offer them. However other media companies including NBC, Time Warner, and CBS were reticent at the time. I think $0.99 is a great price for TV shows, but not to rent -- to own. A few days ago I tweeted that the day Apple and the studios start selling HD versions of TV shows through iTunes for $0.99 is the day I leave my cable company behind. Besides, it's kind of ridiculous that I can buy a high definition season of a TV show on Blu-ray for $25, but the same season would cost me $50 to own through iTunes. As my colleague Chris succinctly put it, "Dear media: what do you have against making money? Sell TV shows for $0.99, and people will buy five times as many as they do now at $1.99. My math may be a bit off, but this sounds a lot like MOAR REVENUE. Dipsticks." Whatever Apple and the networks choose to do in the future, the days of the $0.99 TV show rental on iTunes and the Apple TV is over, for now. And that leaves Apple's "hobby" with one less feature. Rumors have been floating around for a while now about a new Apple TV this fall. Some think it will actually be an Apple-branded television set, some say it will be an Apple TV that supports 1080p. As usual, we won't know for sure until they send out the invites.
Warner Bros. says Apple's TV rentals are too cheap
When Apple recently announced the availability of $0.99 rentals of TV episodes, not every network was on board with it. The Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. (parents of ABC and FOX, respectively) were good with the deal, though one of the most notable opponents was Warner Bros. (CW, among others). The reason: $0.99 for an episode rental is too cheap. Chief Exec Barry Meyer of Warner Bros. went on to say that having rentals set at such a low price would hurt sales of full seasons of their television shows, adding that the current $2.99 to own an episode, via iTunes, suited them just fine. Ever since the idea of renting TV episodes came about, I couldn't fathom why someone would choose to purchase -- permanently -- an entire season of a show until after they'd already seen it. I can see why one would want to watch their absolute favorites over and over again, but only once they know they're good. Rentals can only help boost sales of permanent purchases, but the show has to be proven good first. Maybe that's what's really scaring Warner Bros. here. [via 9 to 5 Mac]
