NBC announced the other day they they will be pulling their TV lineup from the iTunes catalog, citing Apple’s resistance to “better piracy controls” and the inability to bundle shows instead of the iTunes ala carte model. Scott Kirsner covered this over at CinemaTech. So NBC decides not to renew the contract in December, and Apple just upped the ante by dropping the shows now…

“Apple’s agreement with NBC ends in December. Since NBC would withdraw their shows in the middle of the television season, Apple has decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September. NBC supplied iTunes with three of its 10 best selling TV shows last season, accounting for 30 percent of iTunes TV show sales.”

The best coverage by far I’ve read on this whole debacle is by Phill Ryu…in a article entitled “Welcome to Zuckerland” he picks apart NBC’s complaint with Apple, their ensuing followup damage control statements, and highlights “…the distinctive mix of paranoia, confusion and fear that is the mark of a corporation that doesn’t understand its customers, is backed into a corner, and is too chicken to fess up and apologize.” Foot, meet bullet. Bullet, meet foot.