March Madness for sale on iTunes

Apple Computer is offering iTunes Music Store customers a chance to buy a piece of March Madness.

As part of its continued expansion into video, Apple will offer condensed versions of the 63 Division 1 men's NCAA basketball games, it said Tuesday. The games will go on sale a day after they take place for $1.99 apiece, or $19.99 for a "season pass" to all the series.

Earlier this month, Apple started offering bundled pricing for collections of TV shows from Comedy Central, as well as for its highlights of Nascar races.

With the NCAA tournament, though, Apple faces competition not only from traditional TV broadcasts, but also from other online sources. CBS has previously announced plans to show many of the basketball games for free over the Internet.

"We're not trying to replace live," iTunes Vice President Eddy Cue said in an interview. "This is about being able to get things that you've missed."

Cue noted that many of the games are taking place during working hours. "If the game was a 1 o'clock game and you're at work, which lots of us are, that may not be an option," he said. He also added that with iTunes, unlike the free streaming video, customers get to keep and own the shows. "This is a great way to get it and the only way to" own it, he said.

On another matter, Cue declined to comment on pending legislation in France that would force Apple to open up programming from iTunes to be played on non-Apple devices.

Apple opened its video operation last fall with music videos, TV shows from Disney-owned networks and short films from Pixar. The company has subsequently added new and classic shows from Disney and others, including NBC.

The company moved into sports with the Bowl Championship Series in January. It has since offered the X Games and other content from ESPN, as well as a recent boxing match that has climbed onto Apple's list of top 100 video sales.

[Dachi]

Ina Fried an NLGA member?

here is Ina's CNET staff picture:
http://news.com.com/i/ne/blogs/mugs/blog_ina_70x60.jpg

On this page: http://www.nlgja.org/about/05board.html

You will find Ina is listed as the secretary of the board of directors for the "National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association"

I stumbled on that doing a google images search for "Ina Fried" -credit but thought I would share it in the spirit of free information.

[Dachi]

Additionally...

http://www.nlgja.org/about/board.html
Ina Fried
NLGJA National Secretary
CNET News.com

I also don't want to give the impression that there is anything wrong with being a NLGA member, go Ina. I just thought it was an interesting find in my internet digging :)

[Dachi]

Ina Fried an NLGA member?

Here is Ina's CNET staff picture:
http://news.com.com/i/ne/blogs/mugs/blog_ina_70x60.jpg

On this page: http://www.nlgja.org/about/05board.html

You will find Ina is listed as the secretary of the board of directors for the "National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association"

I stumbled on that doing a google images search for "Ina Fried" -credit but thought I would share it in the spirit of free information.

[Dachi]

Dupe due to bug

Sometimes when I post I get a "this page cannot be found (404)", or "node ID xxxxx is missing" error so I hit back and tried again.

[bufbarnaby]

March Madness 4 sale?

Sounds like Stevie Jobs-pod is mad...I already get it for free in over-the-air,true HDTV.Pay to download a low-rez,hardly bigger than a postage stamp size version? Take your Jobs-pod video and shove it. Use an HDTV Wonder and get the full quality for free,without ANY DRM...