Apple dumps 99-cent iTunes TV show rentals

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has quietly removed television show rental options from its iTunes digital storefront and its Apple TV set-top service, stating customers prefer to purchase content instead. Consumers may still buy individual episodes of their favorite series--in some cases, Apple and its television network partners also offer Season Pass options bundling a year's worth of programming.

Apple rolled out the 99-cent rental option roughly a year ago, offer commercial-free episode rentals spanning 48 hours and optimized for devices including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Consumer demand for the rental option never materialized, however, and earlier this month Apple effectively paved the way for the service's demise by introducing iTunes in the Cloud, enabling users to stream iTunes purchases any time they wish to any Apple device.

"iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows," an Apple spokesman told All Things Digital. "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."

The iTunes TV rental option also suffered from limited content provider interest: Of the four major American broadcast networks, only News Corp.'s Fox and the Walt Disney Co.'s ABC committed to the service. "After carefully considering the results of the rental trial, it became clear that content ownership is a more attractive long-term value proposition both for iTunes customers and for our business," Fox said in a statement. "To further enhance the value of ownership, we are working with Apple to make content available within their new cloud-based service."

For more:
- read this All Things Digital article

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