iTunes kills off 99 cent TV show rentals

Apple has quietly killed off its 99 cent TV show rentals via iTunes, sticking with the more successful a-la carte purchasing option.

An SD-quality TV episode costs $2 to purchase while its HD counterpart costs $3.

Rentals were introduced last year alongside the second generation Apple TV set-top box.

Apple says:

iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows. iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose.

Although they would not mention the services by name, it is clear that Hulu and Netflix were the reason for the lack of rentals. Hulu offers episodes, for free, the day after they air and Netflix has full series of TV episodes, with no ads, for just $7.99 per month.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Aug 2011 19:59

flyingpen

O who would have guessed that Macintosh would ever want to change even more for their services when all other companies charge so much less >.>

Carpe Noctem

27.8.2011 21:11 #1

txlakesid

OMG .... Steve lost the battle

27.8.2011 21:50 #2

KillerBug

Now, they just need to make the price per episode reasonable...and remove the crippling DRM...and use a quality codec so it does not look like crap.

27.8.2011 22:30 #3

Xian

Quote:iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows There are very few shows I want to watch more than once so I have no desire to purchase them, unlike music that I will listen to many times. If anything they should have lowered the rental price to compete with the all-you-can-eat Netflix and Hulu pricing.

28.8.2011 10:44 #4

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