Comments on: NBC's Zucker: Apple Turned Dollars into Pennies

By: B K Ray Chicago, IL

B K Ray Chicago, IL — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:00:00 +0000

Zucker has a point, well maybe not, but the thing is Steve Jobs is not right either. There is a medium that would make people happier.

First off, what is it that Steve Jobs has against commericals being added to the videos? iTunes has a whole section of songs that are played on commercials, I know that is where I have heard a great many of the songs I later went to iTunes to pay for.

So adding a commerical or two to a video is not going to kill anyone, especially if they can drop the price from $1.99 to $.99 no one loses. As much as I love my Macs (four) and my iPods (three) and my iPhone (one) Steve Jobs has made some bad calls, like "No one wants to watch videos on a tiny screen. iTunes is just about music…"

Commericals are going to be paying for podcasts and so them paying for vids is not that big of a friking deal

By: danville, ca

danville, ca — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:09:24 +0000

Zucker proves the Peter Principle – he's trying to sound all smart for his bosses when clearly they are clueless as he is. It's fine to walk away from a "retailer" if you want to but then to pick a fight and ramble about incorrect conclusions – what a twit. Did Apple insist NBC not launch hulu or feed content to nbc.com? No. But Zucker can't run two businesses? He can't sell on itunes AND launch a new venture – it's either or? AND he has to pick a fight with S. Jobs … which graners you lots of votes for dumbest CEO of the year which he should win hands down … did Zucker learn nothing from Eisner (now in the trading card business?) … of course Zucker is digital in one sense, he's either on or off – he can't be in two states …

By: Steve, Los Altos, Calif.

Steve, Los Altos, Calif. — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:50:10 +0000

Theres a Zucker born every minute! One can already 'download' a program to an ipod legally and for free. First, get an EyeTV from ElGato (or other DVR device), program it to record your favorite show, export to the ipod, and bingo! No payment to NBC or Apple, and you can record -any- program you wish. You can even edit out the commercials.

By: Loonesta, Winnetka, CA

Loonesta, Winnetka, CA — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:58:33 +0000

Hulu is going to be a multimedia download website partnership between NBC & Fox, so those Fox shows on iTunes just might go away eventually. Hulu is going to be free w/ ads, a la SpiralFrog. Probably also only able to be used w/ Windows, .NET & IE, like SpiralFrog. Probably also only able to be used w/ Windows, .NET & IE, like SpiralFrog. If Hulu is going to be free to those who would download, and NBC & Fox expect to make big money from ad content, I still don't see it being as big a money maker as remaining w/ iTunes and keeping (or lowering) the old download charges…

By: Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX

Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:10:41 +0000

"What the media companies are trying to do is prevent the growth of a digital Walmart, and create more competition." – Posted By Jenny, CA

That is funny!

Media companies do not care about creating competition. They care about making money. NBC is no better than Apple or Walmart. But NBC is missing out on easy money from selling their shows on Apple. How much work does NBC have to do to sell their shows on iTunes? Not much.

The shows are shown because advertisers pay for ad time. If you can edit out the commercials and get folks to pay two bucks an episode, you have made easy money. Why miss out on that easy money?

By: sajudoj

sajudoj — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:38:49 +0000

This is great!

By: joe, aberdeen, sd

joe, aberdeen, sd — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:39:41 +0000

Does it occur to anyone else how similar Suckers' comments sound to the dialogue from the Godfather movies? "Michael, you should let us wet our beak a little…" It never occurred to me until just now how that comment befits a vulture. Ha! The success of Apple and Itunes is in no way a reflection upon the success of anything related to Sucker and NBC. I think if I ran Apple, there would be no way they could now negotiate their way back onto Itunes. In another Godfather term, Morte!

By: luke from NY

luke from NY — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:41:56 +0000

holy cow .. how can he say that itunes killed the music business.. if anything they helped the business in many ways but most importantly gave the consumer more control on what they buy and open more possibilities for

small or independent labels to get exposure and "compete" with the large labels without spending a fortune in promotion

By: Dan, Boston, MA

Dan, Boston, MA — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:46:14 +0000

Rico – Obviously NBC didn't feel that the ROI was high enough and placed a higher value on a new startup content distribution opportunity than $15 million (or whatever the real number is) from Apple. NBC isn't the only content provider unhappy with Apple. The negotiations with the music studios were contentious as well. Apple is in a precarious position here as only a distributor of content. If enough music labels and networks pull their content, then what will Apple be left with. And will the fanboys really stick to only content available on iTunes to "support" poor little Apple? The content providers are just biding their time until enough viable competitors to iTunes come online. It's funny how the same people who decry Microsoft's exploiting of its dominant market share position are more than willing to make excuses for Apple when it does the same thing with iTunes. What happens when there is no content available for Apple to sell? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does a screaming fanboy make a sound?

By: R. Middendorf New York, NY

R. Middendorf New York, NY — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:26:10 +0000

Networks have been so used to extorting dollars from advertisers, they think they can now do the same to end users.

Before Apple, music was being pirated and record companies were losing fortunes. Apple didn't kill the profitability in music, they gave music companies and music users a viable alternative to piracy.

Mr. Zucker will either learn the same lesson, or resort to RIAA legal tactics to try and defend his current strategy.

People will tell you what your shows are worth, not the other way around Mr. Zucker.