NBC Universal shows to sell on iTunes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday said they would make several NBC-owned television shows, such as "The Office" and "Law & Order," available on the iTunes music store.

The shows, taken from NBC, the USA Network and the SciFi Channel, include current and older programming, the companies said.

Among the offerings are "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Surface," as well as older programs such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Dragnet" and "Knight Rider."

(Entire NBC/iTunes article here.)

This is obviously pretty good news for Apple and NBC, but even better news for users – it signals an increasing willingness (however limited at the moment) on the part of the networks to meet the demands for video downloads. Of course I'm sure the nets only agree to this at the moment because the videos are properly viewed on something the size of a business card, but the walls are slowly coming down. I just surfed over to iTunes and saw that the entirety of the new Battlestar Galactica series (including the miniseries) is available. Pretty cool.

This is also good news for users because we'll have an official reference point for episode listings and the like. Once all of the networks hop on board (and I'm fairly confident that they will), you'll be able to surf around and see seasons at a glance on iTunes. I'm hopeful that this will allow some shows that might otherwise be cancelled prematurely to find an audience more quickly than they might have otherwise -- with the ability to download shows on the cheap and catch up quickly when someone recommends a show to you, it will be easier to hop on as a viewer when you've missed the first couple episodes of the season.

Good news, good news. Now I just need that damn video iPod.

(Yes, I know you don't need an iPod to watch the shows, but the idea appeals.)