NBC says they never said what Apple said they said.
This is beginning to sound like a Jane Curtain-Dan Akroyd skit … NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) never asked to double the wholesale price and insists NBC shows will be sold by the iTunes Store through early December. Firing back at Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) with a statement from Cory Shields, EVP-Communications, NBCU said the dispute centered on a “request for flexibility in wholesale pricing, including the ability to package shows together in ways that could make our content even more attractive for consumers.†Shields said the company also wanted Apple to do more about piracy “since it is estimated that the typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material.â€
NBCU contends that Apple’s pricing is more about hardware than content: “It is clear that Apple’s retail pricing strategy for its iTunes service is designed to drive sales of Apple devices, at the expense of those who create the content that make these devices worth buying.â€
