I’ve been haunting the iTunes store to see if this would happen but leave it to Gizmodo to catch it first: two freshmen series from NBC — Chuck and Journeyman — are being sold through the iTunes store. That’s despite NBCU’s assertions that freshmen series weren’t covered by the current contract and Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) claims, after word of NBCU’s non-renewal notice for iTunes went public, that no new NBCU shows would be sold through the store this fall. We have calls in on this and will add some clarity — if there is any — as soon as we can.
Reminder: Despite all of the babble to the contrary, NBCU’s 90-day notice that it would not renew its current deal with iTunes automatically was not the end of the matter. The two companies were negotiating then and, as far as I know, still are. NBCU wants flexible pricing and piracy controls; Apple has been pushing for a huge drop in the per-episode price to $0.99.
Update: Jay makes an important point in the comments: the shows in question are produced by others — Warner Brothers (Chuck)and Fox (Journeyman) — so covered by those deals — not the one with NBCU. But they are being sold and promoted on iTunes as NBC shows and that’s what they are as far as consumers are concerned. It’s a reminder that even if NBCU and Apple don’t come to terms, some NBC shows could linger — and of how very complicated this whole rights scene can get.
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