NBC: 'Of pride and piracy'


News.com is reporting comments by NBC chief digital officer George Kliavkoff in which he about says that iTunes should be gatekeeper to prevent pirated content from being loaded on iPods.

"If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players [Ed--iPods account for 70% of the market] and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software [Ed--iTunes], which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures," Kliavkoff said. "One of the big issues for NBC is piracy. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products."

Thereupon, I believe a rejigging of an NRA mantra is an appropriate rejoinder to Mr Kliavkoff fallacious suppositions--"iPods don't pirate content, people pirate content."

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For neither love nor money

He goes to say that NBC Universal "would love to be on iTunes" and that the company needs to "figure out a way to distribute" via Apple's digital download store.

Apparently, neither love of money nor basic math skills are part of NBC' figuring.

For example, the broadcaster made about $1.40 per download via iTunes (they pulled their content last year) and now makes a nickel or less per viewer via ad-supported streams.

"It's really difficult for us to work with any distribution partner who says 'Here's the wholesale price and the retail price,' especially when the price doesn't reflect the full value of the product," he continued.

Bollocks!

Full value? Kliavkoff's selling it for a nickel, at best, and he has the temerity to complain when Apple gives him a buck-forty? One nickel versus 28 nickels? Shouldn't someone be asking the NBC' shareholders which "value" they'd prefer?

Also, before Apple came along, content owners were the ones who dictated wholesale and retail prices. In fact, Apple aside, they still do. Walk into a video store and you'll pay the rates dictated by NBC, etc--prices are usually printed right on the packaging.

So, although it's obviously galling for NBC to be on the receiving end (Ha! Good on ya, Steve!), which is more important? Keeping your pride? Or, bringing home the bacon?

I'm betting bacon will reassert its tasty presence shortly after Kliavkoff's shown the door...

What's your take?

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