Apple has announced that all four of the major TV broadcasters; ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, have agreed to offer programming in HD on the company’s iTunes platform.
The shows will cost $2.99, a premium over the $1.99 for standard definition and the company says there are about 600 shows available in HD on iTunes now.
Since Apple announced limited HD programming last month, they have sold over 1 million HD shows, most being NBC content that returned to the store after a one year absence.
A few of the new notable shows added are ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Eli Stone,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Life on Mars,” “Lost,” “Private Practice,” “Samantha Who?” and “Ugly Betty.” CBS programming includes “CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: New York,” “NCIS” and “Numb3rs.” FOX shows include “Bones,” “House,” “Prison Break” and “Sons of Anarchy,” from FX.
Although I am sure the shows will sell extremely well, I’m not sure I understand why when pretty much all the content is available for free (with limited ads), and in HD, elsewhere on sites such as Hulu.
Result for: ugly betty
ESPN and ABC have announced that they will be adding video content to the Veoh Web video service.
The agreement will allow Veoh to present hit shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives,” as well as ESPN programming and game highlights.
Matt Murphy, the senior vice president for digital media distribution at Disney and ESPN Media Networks, added: “These types of partnerships allow us to reach our fans and viewers in a much deeper and more meaningful way…This is a world where you have to constantly re-evaluate your business and constantly look at partners and how they are running their businesses.”
There was no word on any of the financial aspects of the latest deal.
