• by Emily Burg , March 9, 2007

NBC, the first television network to partner with viral video Web site YouTube, following the kerfuffle around the posting of the "Lazy Sunday" clip from "Saturday Night Live," is on the verge of launching its own digital download store, where customers can purchase "SNL" clips and an entire season's episodes of hit shows like "The Office."

According to Shelli Hill--vice president of video, music and product development for NBC Universal Television Distribution, who spoke at this week's MultiCultural Media Expo in Los Angeles--NBC will soon offer its own digital downloads of its content, providing online customers with an alternative to iTunes. Available product will run the gamut of the NBC Universal Telemundo content spectrum, including telenovelas.

The download section would reside in the NBC store at NBC.com, where customers currently can purchase DVDs, licensed apparel, toys and accessories. At microsites on NBC.com, visitors already can view full episodes of many TV shows, as well as producer's cuts and outtakes, in addition to extras such as downloadable ring tones and wallpaper.

Hill says the pricing structure for downloads of single episodes would be comparable to iTunes' $1.99 standard, but that there was room to experiment with a more fluid across-the-board pricing structure, such as Amazon and Google use, for full-season series.

"The current pricing structure [for downloads] is not equitable," Hill says, "when a five-minute video and a 74-minute episode of 'Saturday Night Live' each sell for $1.99."

No further details were available on a launch date for the digital download store.