NBC Universal says goodbye to Apple and hello to Amazon
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NBC Universal cuts new content partnership days after a rift emerges with Apple.
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Amazon.com has signed on Warner Music Group to its music download service, which aims to compete with Appleâs industry-dominating iTunes online store.
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Apple Inc and a popular Web site that published company secrets about the maker of the Mac computer, the iPhone and the iPod have reached a settlement that calls for the site to shut down.
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NBC Universal aims to  shake up the way it does business, particularly with its pilot  development and "upfront" presentations, president and CEO Jeff  Zucker said Tuesday.
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News that the Universal Music Group would no longer guarantee Apple access to its coming releases could shake up the digital music business.
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Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to pay $300 million for Audible, an audio books seller that has a close relationship with Apple Inc.
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BusinessWeek is reporting that Apple is near to closing agreements with all of the top studios.
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Amazon.com, the worldâs largest online retailer, will soon finally have one place to call home.
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NBC Universal has reached a deal  for online retailer Amazon.com Inc  to sell television  show downloads, it said on Tuesday, just days after the media  company pulled the plug on a contract with Apple Inc's  iTunes.
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The dispute between Apple and NBC Universal over the pricing of video on iTunes grew more heated as Apple announced it would not add any new NBC shows to the online storeâs inventory.
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In a recent public appearance, NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker laid the blame for the music industry's recent difficulties squarely at the doorstep of Apple.
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When Tom Brokaw signs off his last NBC ``Nightly News&#39;&#39; program tonight (at 6:30 on WHDH, Ch. 7), it will mark the end of an era on network television.
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Amazon.com has begun a new chapter in its battle for customers&#39; ears: it has agreed to pay $300 million for Audible, a seller of audio books that has a close relationship with Apple.Ten-year-old Audible sells spoken-word content such as audio books, magazines, and radio programs through a number of channels, including its Web sites in the U.S. and U.K. It has 80,000 titles in its catalog, and a further 20,000 through partner sites in France and Germany.Amazon began reselling Audible&#39;s content in 2000, and since 2002, Audible has also distributed audio books through Apple&#39;s iTunes Store, when it became Apple&#39;s exclusive supplier of spoken-word content. Apple modified the software in its iPods to allow &quot;bookmarking&quot; of Audible audio files.This chapter in the battle for listeners may yet have a happy ending for Apple, as the Audible team plans to continue and grow its relationship with the iTunes Store, according to Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener. But that goes for Audible&#39;s many other channel partnerships too: &quot;We plan to continue and grow all these relationships,&quot; Herdener said.Apple declined to comment on the deal.The main battle front between Apple and Amazon remains the sale of digital music free of the restrictions imposed by DRM (digital rights management) systems, where Amazon has been competing with Apple in the U.S. since September.When Apple opened its iTunes Store, the music it sold was wrapped in a layer of DRM to prevent copying, which incidentally tied the music to Apple&#39;s iPod players and iTunes software.Some record companies were unhappy that Apple limited the sales to its players in this way, and last May&#160;Apple began offering tracks from EMI without DRM&#160;for a small premium, later bringing the price down to the same $0.99 it charges for other tracks with DRM.&#160;Amazon joined the fray&#160;in September, selling music from EMI and Universal in MP3 format, without DRM,&#160;adding tracks from Warner to its catalog&#160;in December. It now offers 2.9 million DRM-free tracks, compared to 2 million DRM-free tracks in Apple&#39;s iTunes Store. Apple offers millions more tracks with DRM.Audible&#39;s audio books are wrapped in a layer of DRM, which Amazon does not plan to remove unless customers start to complain, Herdener said.&quot;Each media marketplace has its own business dynamics,&quot; he said.Amazon recently moved into the electronic book market with the launch of its Kindle e-reader, a device for downloading and displaying electronic books. Kindle also plays audio files, including those sold by Audible, making it a (much bulkier) competitor to the iPod.The $300 million price tag for Audible includes the assumption of outstanding stock option obligations. The companies expect to close the deal by April.
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Amazon has agreed to give NBC Universal something that Apple would not: greater flexibility in the pricing and packaging of video downloads.
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NBC Universal has reached a deal  for online retailer Amazon.com Inc to sell television show  downloads, it said on Tuesday, just days after the media  company pulled the plug on a contract with Apple Inc&#39;siTunes.
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Goodbye, $1.99 iTunes. Hello, free NBC rentals.
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Apple cut a few companies off at the knees this week with its announcement about iTV.