Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor conference, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said his company is unlikely to offer 99-cent TV episode rentals through iTunes. “We do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content.
… We thought it would devalue our content,” Zucker said, pointing to the fact that episodes are already sold for $1.99 on the iTunes Store. Notably, Zucker was also CEO in 2007 when the company decided not to renew its contract with Apple to sell its television shows on the iTunes Store; he later said the company was seeking a cut of Apple’s hardware sales as well as flexible pricing experimentation.
“Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money. They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing,” Zucker said at the time.