Report: Apple to sell US TV shows for 99-cents; coinciding with iPad launch

“Apple could begin selling US television shows for $1, half of its charge on its iTunes digital media store, when the computer maker’s iPad tablet computer hits the stores,” Kenneth Li reports for The Financial Times.

Li continues, “The test, expected to coincide with the April consumer debut of the iPad, will offer some shows at the lower price as a way to test whether reducing the cost of video programming will ignite sales, people familiar with the discussions said.”

Li continues, “Some television networks agreed to the lower prices after months of negotiations, and having initially resisted Apple’s push. Media executives are under pressure from declining DVD sales and cut-rate rental services such as Redbox, that offer rental DVDs for $1.”

“It is not yet clear which or how many of the US free-to-air and pay-television networks have agreed to the lower pricing,” Li reports. “‘If you move five times the volume [of sales] at half the price, it’s a good idea,’ one digital media strategist at a big US media conglomerate said. ‘The argument for holding the line gets bad quickly.’ One executive said iTunes’s 120m active customer accounts with credit cards on file provides a ripe ground for experimenting with changing the economics of digital media. ‘It’s a good time to do it,’ another senior media executive said.”

Full article here.

Source: MacDailyNews