MTV hops on iTunes bandwagon

SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park and Jackass are among a slew of new TV programmes to be added to the iTunes online music and video store after MTV Networks became the latest studio to sign with Apple.

Shows from MTV, MTV2, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and The N have all joined the iTunes line-up, with MTV following the lead set by Disney last October when the Mouse agreed its landmark deal to distribute ABC series Lost and Desperate Housewives via iTunes.With NBC Universal following Disney in December, offering the likes of Law & Order and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno over the Apple service, it was only a matter of time before more major studios came on board.

The growing influence Apple chief executive Steve Jobs exerts over the TV industry was sharply underlined on Tuesday when confirmation came of Disney's $7.4bn acquisition of Pixar, the animation studio of which Jobs is also CEO.Under the terms of the takeover, Job's 50.6% shareholding in Pixar will translate into the single biggest shareholding in Disney stock and a seat on the company's board of directors.

Expect the MTV-Apple deal to be followed by many more, making new and archive programmes available via the iTunes website for $1.99 a pop. Fourteen shows come to the service as a result of the MTV deal, taking the total now offered by iTunes to 40. Apple has already sold eight million downloads of TV shows since adding them to its online shop in the autumn.

It is interesting to note that among signature MTV brands including Beavis & Butthead, Punk'd and Laguna Beach is the first preschool property to feature on iTunes.Dora The Explorer comes together with SpongeBob SquarePants from Nickelodeon and is expected to provide parents out shopping with a useful means of distracting bored kids, by dumping a video iPod in their laps.

Jonathan Webdale
27 Jan 2006
© C21 Media 2006