iTunes agrees to vary pricing for HBO
Episodes not available until DVD street
By Danny King -- Video Business, 5/13/2008
MAY 13 | HBO has signed on to sell episodes of its TV shows on iTunes after the movie download service agreed to vary its pricing and release dates.
Starting today, iTunes will charge $2.99 per episode of The Sopranos, Deadwood and Rome. Sex and the City, The Wire and Flight of the Conchords will retail for Apple’s standard $1.99 per episode.
In addition to the different pricing, Apple will not make HBO's shows available on iTunes until they’re released on DVD, unlike TV series from other suppliers, which debut on iTunes a day after they have been broadcast.
Full seasons of HBO shows will be priced at iTunes' regular prices, which will be about a third less than HBO charges for its complete-season DVDs.
“We’re thrilled to bring this incredible lineup of programming from HBO to the iTunes Store,” iTunes VP Eddy Cue said in a statement today. “These are some of the most talked about TV shows ever, as well as some of the most requested by our customers.”
Both iTunes and HBO have been money-makers for parents Apple and Time Warner, respectively.
Apple said last month that it leapfrogged Wal-Mart to become the No. 1 U.S. music retailer, citing NPD Group, and has sold more than 4 billion songs to its 50 million customers since iTunes launched in April 2003. The service has helped Apple almost triple its annual revenue to $24 billion for fiscal 2007, from $8.3 billion for fiscal 2004, iTunes’ first full year.
Time Warner’s networks unit, which includes HBO and Turner Broadcasting, boosted first-quarter revenue by 10% to $2.66 billion, outpacing the parent company’s 2% revenue growth.
ITunes has accumulated an inventory of more than 800 TV shows, totaling more than 20,000 episodes since it started selling episodes of Desperate Housewives and Lost from Walt Disney’s ABC network in October 2005.
Reuters reported the pending agreement between Apple and HBO yesterday.
