Audio Video News

Less than a month after withdrawing from iTunes, NBC has announced it will begin allowing time-limited free downloads of popular shows from its website.

NBC Direct will offer downloads of Heroes, The Office, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno within a week of broadcast. Viewers may subscribe to downloads to ensure they get their favorites. But the downloads will be watchable only for seven days--after which, poof!

More fine print: Downloads may not be transferred to devices other than the original PC. There is no Mac or iPod support (yet). The downloads will come with commercials that cannot be skipped.

NBC plans a second phase in which paying customers may buy shows for keeps. Under its discontinued arrangement with iTunes, shows were sold for $1.99. Apple says NBC wanted to charge $4.99, a claim NBC denies, saying the dispute was over wholesale pricing, not retail.

The network's site will continue streaming shows.