In response to NBC Universal"s decision not to renew its iTunes contract due to Apple"s inability to negotiate on higher prices, Apple has decided to cancel their current iTunes contract which was to end in December. Since the end of the contract would happen half way through the television season, Apple has decided to boot NBC Universal from iTunes before the new TV season begins in September. Apple also noted that NBC Universal wanted to sell its episodes for $4.99 each. Seeing as the current price is $1.99 per episode, iTunes VP Eddy Cue noted: "We are disappointed to see NBC Universal leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase. We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers."
According to Apple"s own numbers, NBC Universal TV shows took three of the top ten slots for best selling TV shows on iTunes last season and accounted for 30% of all TV show sales.