Apple’s TV Episode Rental Service Ends Following Steve Jobs’ Resignation

The decision from Apple came two days after Steve Job’s resignation as the CEO and replaced by his right-hand man Tim Cook.

“iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows,” an Apple spokesman, who confirmed the takedown, told New York Times on Friday.

apple.com: Apple TV

The company has sold episodes of TV shows via iTunes for $1.99 to $2.99. Although the sales have been beneficial for Apple and for television networks, still it did not have a major effect on consumer behavior.

The rental service was an experiment to see if a lower price point and a short viewing window would attract consumers and encourage sales of the Apple TV product.

News Corp. said it was working with Apple to make TV shows available within iTunes in the Cloud, which is a new online service that makes content more portable by securely storing it online.

In a statement that was released Friday, Apple promoted the new service saying that it lets users enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose, the New York Times reported.