News Corpse and Apple in $1 ‘rental’ deal?
p2pnet view P2P | TV:- Rupert Murdoch’s plans to ‘monetize’ his decaying newspaper empire by charging people for online reads have failed miserably, driving people away instead of snaring them.
But that doesn’t mean he’s given up on the online newspaper bidniz.
Steve Jobs wants to charge people $1 for Apple TV episodes and Walt Disney is “willing to go along with Apple’s new pricing plan — at least for now”, says the Los Angeles Times.
What a surprise. Steve Jobs is, of course, Disney’s largest shareholder
However, “Many in the entertainment industry fear that the low price could break the economic model that supports the high cost of producing TV shows”, says the story, stating “CBS and NBC don’t want to get locked into a pricing formula that could encourage people to watch TV shows on mobile devices rather than subscribe to cable or satellite TV services that pay hefty fees for programming”.
But “News Corp. executives are divided over selling TV shows at such a discount, according to people close to the conversations”, it says.
Some of them worry “offering 99-cent episode rentals will cut into lucrative DVD sales and pull viewers away from watching network TV, thereby eroding a $20-billion advertising market, these people said”, says the post, continuing >>>
But other top officials at News Corp. — especially Murdoch — are prepared to join Apple’s six-month pricing trial because it could cement a relationship with Apple’s powerful chief executive, Steve Jobs, and reap benefits for other divisions within the company, namely newspapers.
Murdoch … has said that the Apple iPad will rescue old print media by luring readers who will not subscribe to a newspaper. That makes the iPad a keystone in Murdoch’s ambition to launch a digital national news product this year.
Meanwhile, “The outcome of News Corp.’s internal debate should become clear Wednesday when Apple is expected to announce the rental service”, says the Los Angeles Times, going on CBS and NBC have rejected the proposal because “They worry that Apple’s commercial-free offerings will eat into DVD sales, people close to the companies said”.
And some “major TV producers say privately they fear the industry is about to fall into the same trap as the music industry”, says the story, adding:
“Faced with burgeoning Internet piracy, music labels struck a deal with Apple to sell 99-cent song downloads in 2003 — inadvertently torpedoing CDs sales. Warner Bros., for example, refuses to jeopardize its lucrative syndication business, which can haul in an as much as $2 million per episode for the sale of reruns of shows such as ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ a comedy it produces for CBS.”
Media consultant Mike Vorhaus is quoted as stating:
“What I’m saying to these guys is, ‘There’s no guarantee your traditional businesses are going to pay you the volume or the margins they are today forever’.”
But there’s “no cause for panic”, he says. The business “will probably decay slowly.”
… and identi.ca
driving people away – Times paywall drives off online readers, July 21, 2010
Los Angeles Times – Murdoch may be key to Apple’s plan to offer 99-cent digital rentals of TV shows, August 30, 2010
August, 2010
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August 31st, 2010 at 11:33 am
I’m confused.. these are free, and in HD on newsgroups…
(30 paid iTunes shows) = (Newsgroups subscription for access to 300,000,000 shows)
now I am no math whiz …