LawFont.com

Warner Bros. has joined a number of other television broadcasters in providing some of its programming for sale on Apple’s iTunes. A number of networks, including Fox (owned by News Corp.), ABC (Walt Disney Co.), NBC (Universal), CBS, and MTV (Viacom Inc.), along with Warner Bros., together offer more than 150 television shows for US$1.99 per episode. The shows may be viewed on a computer or a video iPod. And what’s really interesting — it’s possible to subscribe to a current season of a television show (and not just repeats).

It is interesting to note that many of these television networks are owned by entities that are also in the movie industry. I assume that it will not be long before feature films will be available on iTunes as well.

Of course, these episodes are available to the United States market only (which in practice means anyone with a US credit card). The Australian version of iTunes has only a limited offering of videos, which appear to be primarily music videos and animated shorts.

On an unrelated matter, CBS has announced that the “fifth network”, UPN, will cease operations later this year. In its place, Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corporation will launch a joint venture network, called The CW. (I should note that Warner Bros. already has what it calls the “fifth network” — The WB.) CBS has been trading as a stand-alone public company since January 2006, after its spinoff from Viacom Inc. (which owns a number of media companies, including MTV, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks).