1.99 per episode is plenty, especially considering that these shows air for free on broadcast television. NBC is desperate to increase online revenue because so many shows pop up for free on sites like Veoh. They should feel lucky that people are willing to pay 1.99 for their shows.

On iTunes, purchasing an entire season can cost as much as the DVD set (22 * 1.99 = 43.78) only you get much less. You can't play the episodes on your TV, just on your (much smaller) computer screen or iPod. Instead of sitting on a shelf in a nice package, the episodes eat up space on your hard drive. And if your hard drive crashes, your DVDs survive while your iTunes shows disappear.

Maybe NBC should get to bundle shows with movies, but this, too, is an attempt to entice or coerce consumers to pay more for their content. I have no interest in bundles when I only want an episode of the Office. If bundles are optional, consumers will likely just buy what they want. And if they are forced, it's just another way to overcharge.

I'm glad Apple is standing up to NBC on this one. Let them pull out iTunes. People will just continue to download or stream their content for free.

#1 Get BitTorrent client

#2 Get Visual Hub (for Mac OS X)

#3 Download NBC programming via BitTorrent and convert to iPod-friendly files via Visual Hub.

#4 Thumb nose in direction of NBC.

Five bucks an episode, with even more restrictive DRM? What kind of crack are they smoking?

Though I get free cable through my apartment, I love the convenience of downloading shows from iTunes. What sucks most is, this will affect several of my favorite shows: Heroes, 30 Rock, and Battlestar Galactica.

DVR peripherals such as the EyeTV 250 are looking more and more appealing.

I just hope the Viacom shows stay there; I don't relish the idea of recording and converting Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert four times a week so I can watch their shows during my commute.

The convenience of iTunes downloads is why people pay for them rather than do the bootleg thing. Take your products out of that arena, and many of those who do not have cable, Tivo, a DVR, or just the schedule to watch a program when its broadcast, will rejoin the bootlegging ranks.

I actually stopped "stealing" TV over the internet when Battlestar Galactica became conveniently available on iTunes. Reliable download speeds and a generally stable connection made 2 bucks a pop worth it in my book. Not, apparently, for NBC. Whatever, it's their prerogative I suppose. But they shouldn't be shocked if they find they actually get pirated more after pulling their catalog.

As an aside, I don't really understand how to steal something that's broadcast to the viewer essentially for free, in most cases. I understand there's adspace in there, but what if I get up to take a crap during each commercial break? (Maybe I should see a doctor for that, instead.) Or the Tivo people who can skip through the ads? Or just not buying any of the products advertised? Do those count as theft too? Are people, then, legally obligated not to go to the refrigerator during the commercials, unless its for a sponsor's product?

So NBC doesn't want to get any money from their online shows I guess. IMHO, the people who are addicted to the shows will not pay more, they will take the advice of some of your earlier commenters and get them "illegally".

The plot thickens - Apple just countered with a statement that NBC wanted to more than double their price, which would put NBC TV shows at $4.99 per episode rather than the $1.99 they go for now:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7BA124278C-AF65-49D0-A32D-2B4D0976BAC3%7D&siteid=nbk&symb=

Interesting PR move. This really makes NBC look incredibly greedy rather than reasonable. I agree with variable pricing in theory, and I'm willing to pay more for some shows and less for others, but as many people online have pointed out, buying a whole season of an NBC show on iTunes costs more than waiting for the DVD even at $1.99 per episode - increasing this to $4.99 really is highway robbery (for a single episode of a single show!).

end of story.

$5 for that little low res twenty something minute file? i'd rather use azureus and then Isquint...surprisingly easy.

I just pulled up the infamous "Pirate Bay" site and searched for Battlestar Galactica. The listing of video-related torrents includes a 60 gigabyte download of all episodes from seasons 1-3. How is it possible for the television content industry to be so far behind the times and utterly clueless that they'll actually remove legal options for the consumer?

When the DVR system I currently rent from the cable company screws up an HDTV recording of a show(fairly frequently), I simply pop onto Bittorrent and download an HDTV rip of the same episode. Is this really illegal? I mean, I would have watched the official recording and skipped through the commercials anyway.

For anyone who's interested, just do a google search for "Introduction to Bittorrent".

With decisions like this I'm surprised they're in fourth place....