New York - In another battle in the war between old and new media companies to control monetization of content on the Web, NBC has said it won't renew a contract with Apple to sell its TV shows from the iTunes Store, The New York Times reported on Friday.

TV shows like "The Office" and "Heroes" are set to disappear from iTunes in January when NBC's current contract with Apple runs out, after the companies could not reach an agreement on pricing, and other issues like piracy controls and bundling of programming, sources told The Times.

NBC also likely decided to pull its programming from iTunes in part due to the impending launch of Hulu, its online video distribution joint venture with News Corporation, which will distribute its programming online through partners including AOL, Yahoo, MySpace, MSN and Comcast.

Recently, Universal Music Group also decided not to renew its iTunes contract, and may potentially remove its songs from the store if it is unable to reach a new variable pricing agreement with Apple.

The label's new DRM-free songs were launched with a number of online retailers, including Wal-Mart and Rhapsody, with iTunes noticeably absent.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/technology/31NBC.html