An Open Letter to NBC re: Leaving Apple’s iTunes Store. This expresses my thoughts exactly.
On “pricing” concerns:
the per-episode price people are accustomed to paying for what you show on television is “zero,” or something very close to it. Most people are also not so addicted to what you are producing that they would suddenly start paying for it if you stopped offering it for free.
On “piracy” concerns:
If you’re concerned about piracy of what you’re selling through iTunes, my suggestion would be to take a quick look at the fact that you’re distributing your content in completely unprotected or compromised ways every single day. FairPlay is the smartest, most effective protection you have.
As I eluded to in my link to the New York Times article, all this does is force more honest people to the file-sharing networks.