NBC Joins Tv Download Revolution

US network NBC today became the second broadcaster to offer downloads of its most popular TV shows on Apple's iTunes service.

From this morning NBC started offering cable shows such as Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider alongside current hits such as Surface, which users can download to their iPods.

NBC's US homepage showed details of the new offerings, which included Law and Order, My Name is Earl, Fear Factor and The Triangle, roughly a month after the NBC Universal chief, Robert Wright, confirmed the company was in discussions with Apple about offering programming on iTunes.

Disney's ABC network was the first broadcaster to offer its shows on the online service, bringing hit series Lost and Desperate Housewives to the iPod when a new video-enabled version launched in October.

According to the reports, NBC was offering its shows at $1.99 a download, the same price charged by Disney and Steve Job's Pixar Animation Studios, the other two content providers on the enhanced service.

NBC's decision is bound to put pressure on CBS, the other big US network and other cable networks, to offer downloads of their shows if not necessarily via iTunes.

Unlike ABC, NBC will be able to advertise on iTunes when its shows will air on TV.

Initially slow to get their shows online, US broadcasters are embracing the concept of TV downloads as more viewers demand programmes they can watch anywhere at any time. TV programmes are currently available to download only on iTunes' US service.

Last month the American digital video recording pioneer TiVo said it was launching a service that would let subscribers transfer their favourite recordings to their iPods or PSPs.

"The increasing popularity of mobile devices for viewing video, such as Apple's iPod and the PSP device, demonstrate the enormous consumer demand for entertainment on the go," Tom Rogers, the chief executive of TiVo, said.