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Press release edited by Applelinks senior editor Kirk Hiner

Peter Cohen at playlistmag.com is reporting that Apple announced today it will stop selling NBC Universal television shows through the iTunes Store. Apple said it's doing so because NBC wanted Apple to "...pay more than double the wholesale price" for each NBC TV episode, which would have upped user costs to $4.99 per episode, up from $1.99 presently.

Apple said it plans to drop NBC shows in September. "Since NBC would withdraw their shows in the middle of the television season, Apple has decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September," reads a statement published by Apple. "NBC supplied iTunes with three of its 10 best selling TV shows last season, accounting for 30 percent of iTunes TV show sales."

But, NBC also offered some of its shows for viewing on the NBC.com website, complete with commercials and ads which the viewer can't skip. My guess, and this is purely a guess, is that NBC may have raised the price so ridiculously specifically so Apple would drop NBC. This would then force viewers to NBC.com to watch, driving up hits and, therefore, advertising revenue.

Apple will continue to sell television shows from ABC, CBS, Fox and the CW, along with more than 50 cable networks, continuing the current price of $1.99 per episode.

"We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase. We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes.

For the full article, visit playlistmag.com.

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