NBC says iTunes or nothing

Saturday, February 18th, 2006
at 4:53am

Arstechnica had a story about NBC’s dealings with popular video site YouTube.com. Apparently they weren’t so pleased to find one of their $1.99 clips from an SNL sketch on YouTube for free. So they resolved the issue.

Apparently someone had uploaded one of my favorite sketches, Lazy Sunday, which is about Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg’s Sunday where they go to watch the Chronicles of Narnia. Its a hilarious skit, but NBC did find it too funny on YouTube.

Enter the lawyers. This week, NBC’s lawyers sent a letter to YouTube, requesting removal of the video from its servers. The site complied with the request, and placed a short note on its blog explaining the removal and stating that “YouTube respects the rights of copyright holders.” The video was also belatedly made available for free on the NBC web site, along with being offered as a US$1.99 download from the iTunes Music Store.

Copyright laws are becoming hugely violated across the web, but its because of this freedom that users have. It will be tough to balance this freedom with laws without taking away freedom.

I think the funniest part of this whole thing is that I downloaded the sketch for free when it was offered as a Christmas gift on iTunes.

9 Comments

clint

February 19th, 2006
at 12:53am

i cant believe you bought Desperate Housewives video clips. im disappointed.

Zach

February 19th, 2006
at 4:42am

Dude, Desperate Housewives is a good show. I dont wanna hear it. I haven’t bought any in a while though. I am addicted to the office!

Troy Hess

February 19th, 2006
at 5:21am

Nice eyes Clint. *point and laughs at Zach*

Zach

February 19th, 2006
at 5:50am

I don’t care what you guys say, its a cool show. No one cares what I say about the office either!

jarrett

February 20th, 2006
at 9:51am

zach’s a little girl.

haha

Zach

February 20th, 2006
at 1:29pm

Wow, no one says anything about the office though. I watch three episodes of desperate housewives and everyone freaks out, but if I watch the entire season of The Office no one says anything…

and it is still a good show, have you even seen it?

Evan

February 21st, 2006
at 5:42am

yes zach, The office is awesome (i got him hooked)but just because you buy one good show doesnt mean you can get away with buying a soap opera. so please everyone comence making fun of Zach. Hey i hear “As the World Turns” is coming to iTunes. You should be all over this Zach, i hear Julio has testicular cancer……

NBC says iTunes or nothing

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