• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 10, 2006

Following in the footsteps of rival TV networks, Fox on Tuesday began selling current and archived shows piecemeal on iTunes. 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Television Studios together are offering 16 shows consisting of over 250 separate episodes. iTunes users can now download episodes of "24," "The Shield," or "Lost in Space," to name a few, for $1.99 each.

Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said the deal likely would benefit both Fox and Apple. "Fox is getting in the game, and I think we'll see lots of investment moving forward," he said. "This is another big win for iTunes--a recognition of Apple as the leader in paid downloads," added Gartenberg.

Over the last year, News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch has formed Fox Interactive Media and spent $1.3 billion on Internet companies, but an overarching strategy has been slow to take shape. Still, Fox on Tuesday presented the iTunes deal as nothing out of the ordinary. "As this partnership demonstrates, we're committed to delivering our content to consumers in as many ways as possible," Peter Levinsohn, president of Fox Digital Media, said in a statement.

The News Corp.-owned programs join iTunes' growing cache of big-budget entertainment. Disney's ABC was the first to get on board, offering its two prime-time hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" when Apple debuted iTunes" video store last October.

Since then, NBC Universal and Viacom's cable channels--MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central--have bowed loads of shows on iTunes. The only remaining holdover, in fact, is CBS, which is pursuing a number of cross-platform strategies sans iTunes. In February, CBS went so far as to begin selling its new season of "Survivor' on its own Web site, CBS.com, for $1.99 an episode.