[Infowarrior] - NBC Joins Universal Leaving iTunes

[Richard Forno]

BC Joins Universal Leaving iTunes

NBC has told Apple (AAPL) that it will not renew its long-term deal with the
iTunes store. The GE (GE) unit is "the No. 1 supplier of digital video to
Apple¹s online store, accounting for about 40 percent of downloads,"
according to The New York Times. Univeral Music, the world's largest music
publisher also declined to sign another long term deal with Apple. Several
other companies like CBS (CBS) will reach their end of their initial deals
with Apple in the next few months.

The Zune could not hurt the iTune model. Neither, it appears, could cell
handsets with music capability.

But, that leaves Apple as its own worst enemy. It has pushed so hard on the
rates that it gets from content owners, they they are balking at staying on
board.

It is easy to argue that the video and music content owners have no where
else to go. They cannot do business without Apple. But, it is not entirely
clear that this is true. Companies like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN)
have large download businesses. Sony (SNE) is opening the Walkman plattform
to MP3. And, the video content companies are opening their own websites.
And, Nokia (NOK) has launched a big initiative to sell digital content
thought its own online store

No one can predict who will blink first in the battle over who will set
prices for iTunes content. But, for the first time in a couple of years, at
least it is a horse race.

http://www.247wallst.com/2007/08/nbc-joins-unive.html