NBC iTunes downloads soar to over one million; free shows available

Lots of great things were revealed at the Let’s Rock event this month. We received updated iPods, saw the unveiling of iTunes 8, and another highlight was Steve Jobs’ announcement that NBC would be returning to iTunes. Naturally, the news was received with much enthusiasm by NBC fans, and I quickly went to download some of the classic TV shows on my MacBook Pro, such as The A Team and Alfred Hitchcock. iTunes users flocked to the NBC offerings since the announcement, as NBC shows have been downloaded over one million times. Now, that’s impressive.

Many questioned why NBC left iTunes in the first place. NBC had an impressive year (2007) before they left iTunes, accounting for 40% of Apple’s iTunes sales. One of the reasons behind NBC leaving iTunes was they wanted to charge a higher price for some of its shows. Apple refused, and they parted ways. It’s nice to see NBC return and doing well.

iTunes users are able to catch a variety of television shows in standard or HD format. For those who would like to download episodes for free, NBC is offering a excellent selection of standard and HD downloads from some of the top NBC shows such as; Eureka, Life, Bad to Done, Lipstick Jungle, Pilot, Top Design, The Rachel Zoe Project, and The Office. iTunes users wanting to catch the freebies have about a week left before the offer is gone. TUAW has compiled a list of the free shows being offered by NBC.

With over one million downloads, NBC has returned to iTunes in a big way. I have to admit I’m curious to know how many of the downloads were purchased sales. I imagine quite a few iTunes users took advantage of the complimentary offers, but even so the amount of iTunes users who downloaded NBC listings is impressive.

If you don’t have iTunes, you can download it for free from the Apple website. iTunes 8 is available to Mac and Windows users.

Product [iTunes 8]