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DISH Network finishes off VOOM, removes last 5 channels
Well, that was quick. In the midst of adding 22 new HD channels and reporting less-than-stellar Q1 results, DISH Network has now removed the only five remaining VOOM channels from its lineup. If you'll recall, 10 of the 15 went dark yesterday, but now reports are flooding in saying that the last of 'em have also vanished. Yeah, we know the VOOM networks weren't the most watched or anything, but knocking your HD lineup down by 15 doesn't sound like the greatest of moves either. Unless it's planning on adding 15 way more desirable options, that is.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
NBC content gets removed from iTunes
Well folks, it's finally, really happened. According to reports, the last vestiges of NBC have been uprooted and removed from iTunes. In accordance with the company's contract (which expired this month), all the shows you know and love have disappeared and been trucked over to the network's own content portal, NBC Direct. So, those of you hoping to make that one last 30 Rock purchase before the big N cleaned house can put the dream to rest, as well as hopes of grabbing anything from Bravo, mun2, NBC, NBC News, CNBC, NBC Sports, Sci Fi, Sleuth, Telemundo and the USA Network. Hey, at least you can get them at the network's site... what's that? You only get to watch shows for 48 hours, and there's no Mac support? Oh well.[Via TUAW]
Charter cable customers in St. Louis could lose KMOV HD signal
Apparently, love isn't the only game that requires a bit of give and take, as just months after Charter blessed its St. Louis, Missouri customers with two new sparkling HD channels (TNT-HD and MHD), the firm is now about to remove one. Charter Communications has reportedly hit a wall in discussions with Belo. Corp. (which owns KMOV) in regard to the fees that the station wishes to collect from Charter. Although Charter hasn't had any issues receiving permission from other locals to broadcast their HD signals, KMOV is playing hardball, suggesting that Charter pay up to compensate for the "value gained" by having the HD flavor of their station available to users. Of course, the cable company complains that charging for signals that can be received over the air gratis is absurd, and neither party seems to be budging just yet. St. Louis Charter subscribers could lose the signal "as early as tomorrow" unless any band-aids get applied today, but either way, you'll soon be receiving a letter in the mail explaining why there's a sudden black hole where KMOV used to be if things aren't permanently resolved.
French 'DRM interoperability' law reverses stance, no longer forces Apple to open iTMS
Portions of France's copyright law that initially were going to force Apple to open the iTMS + iPod economy for interoperability have now been ruled as unconstitutional. In fact, these provisions have taken almost a complete 180, and they now provide for fining anyone who is caught reverse-engineering DRM in the name of interoperability. Going even further, small fines of 150 euros ($191) for uploading music and 38 euros ($48.50) for downloading it have been replace by steep criminal charges and multiple years of prison time, as well as fines of 500,000 euros ($638,200) - at least that's better than the 'up to $150,000/song' that we have here in the U.S.Whether you consider this a win or a loss for the digital music industry, let's try to keep any resulting discussion civilized boys and girls.[via CNET]
All your workouts are belong to Nikeplus
We're not sure how a one-sentence support document made it into Apple's support knowledgebase, but this strange doc somehow snuck past the velvet rope. It simply states: "There is no way to remove workout data from the nikeplus website", with a 'stay tuned for more info' bit at the end to finish off what is probably the shortest support document we have ever seen. Getting to the topic, however: it seems just a bit strange that there is no way to remove workout information from this supposedly revolutionary new service/iPod accessory. It's not like we're suddenly terrified about Nike's trampling of user privacy, but we wouldn't be surprised if a few tin foil hat fashion aficionados raised at least some sort of a flag over this.
Apple pulls Education iMac
A little more than a week since Apple began offering a rock-bottom priced iMac configuration targeted at educational customers, the company has stopped offering the machine to anyone other than institutional buyers. The $900 replacement for the eMac differed from the baseline consumer model only in its loss of superdrive, dedicated graphics, bluetooth, and Front Row caused a big stir with students heading back to school this fall. Rumor in the ether is that this is par-for-the-course for an education product release. The cycle goes like this: Product is announced >> lots of people get excited and order it >> Apple realizes that if they keep getting orders at the current pace, they won't be able to supply the institutional buyers who they originally targeted >> Apple pulls product from mainstream consumer stores >> ...time passes... >> the educational buying season ends >> Apple allows us regular people to place orders again. [Via MacNN]
