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Go check out the iTunes Store.  Under “TV Shows  Networks” look for NBC, CNBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, USA, Sci Fi, Sleuth, Bravo, and Telemundo.  If you can’t find them, don’t worry, it’s not just you.  This week NBC Universal’s contract with Apple expired, and they have decided not to renew it.  Instead, NBC will be offering its shows for download through its own service, NBC Direct, as well as on the yet-to-be-launched Hulu.

Tuaw.com (The Unofficial Apple Blog) is none too pleased with NBC’s decision, especially since NBC Direct is not supported on Macs: “NBC Direct’s video playback and security (Digital Rights Management) are built for the Microsoft Windows™ operating system. They don’t currently run on other systems, such as Apple Macintosh™ or Linux™. However, if your Apple computer runs on an Intel Core Duo™ processor, you can set up Apple’s™ “Boot Camp” software to install and run Microsoft Windows XP™ on your computer along with Mac OS X™” (NBC Video FAQ).  It’s also only compatible with Internet Explorer, not available outside the U.S., videos can’t be uploaded to portable devices, and you lose the video after 7 days (unless you start renewing the license for it every 48 hours).  NBC says that some of these problems will be fixed in the near future (including Firefox support and upload to portable devices.  Mac compatibility is supposed to be available sometime in 2008).  Tuaw.com and Techcrunch aren’t impressed, though.  Erick Schonfeld ends his article with the question, “Who thinks NBC will bring its toys back to iTunes within a year?”

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