NBC to Pull TV Shows from iTunes

"Battlestar Galactica," "The Office," "Heroes," "30 Rock"—all may disappear from iTunes by December, according to the New York Times.

NBC execs have told the Times that the network has decided not to renew its two-year contract with Apple, which runs out in December. The NYT story doesn't go into a lot of detail about why negotiations have stalled, except to say that NBC is looking for "better piracy controls" and wants to "bundle videos to increase revenue" (so...five-packs of shows or entire seasons only, perhaps?); no immediate comment from Apple.

It's a brutal blow for the iTunes Store—according to the Times, NBC shows represent 40 percent of video downloads on iTunes, and as a viewer...no more "BSG?" Bye-bye "Office?" No "Heroes"? These shows were consistently in the top 10 list of weekly TV downloads on iTunes and big fan favorites. iPod users will certainly feel the sting on this one.

Of course, NBC knows this, and that’s precisely why it's playing hardball with Apple. And it's no coincidence that one of NBC Universal's owners is Vivendi SA, whose subsidiary, the Universal Music Group, recently decided to opt out of its iTunes deal and has started selling DRM-free music through RealNetworks.

The Times story notes that NBC and Apple could still come to an agreement before December; if they don't, however, the next question will be how NBC chooses to deliver its shows in the future. And if the Peacock network does start selling downloads of "The Office" and "Heroes" elsewhere (and indeed, you can snag "The Office" over Amazon Unbox, and maybe one day through Hulu, its new joint venture with News Corp.), it'll surely do so with a new, non-Apple DRM scheme in place—and that means no Michael Scott on your iPod (at least not legally, anyway).

Related:
NBC to End iTunes Sales of Its Shows [The New York Times]