NETWORKS BALK AT CUTTING DOWNLOAD PRICES

According to earlier reports, Steve Jobs had hoped to announce at his February iPad unveiling an agreement with most television networks to allow episodes of current programs to be downloaded for a test period for 99 cents, half the current price for standard definition and a third of the price for high definition. The idea would be to determine whether the lower price would spur paid downloads of the shows. But, according to the Associated Press, none of the networks has budged from its opposition to such a plan. AP did report that ABC has claimed success with its app that allows viewers to stream episodes of its shows to the iPad free, but requires them to watch five 30-second ads per hour that can’t be skipped. Quoting an ABC spokesman, AP said that in the 10 days following the iPad’s debut, the app has been downloaded 205,000 times and that it has been used for viewing 650,000 episodes of its shows. The app also includes links to Apple’s iTunes store where the episodes can be purchased — but the AP report did not indicate how many episodes had actually been downloaded by iPad users thus far.