• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 29, 2008

Larry Kramer revealed insights about the internal struggle at a major television network evaluating whether to play along with Apple’s iTunes model. Back then, Kramer was the digital media guru as CBS, and he said there was a huge internal debate about embracing iTunes. So he did some math and concluded that a major prime-time hit like “CSI” generates between 30 cents to 50 cents per viewer per hour via the traditional ad-supported broadcast TV model.

“An iTunes viewer is getting the network significantly more than that,” he said, “because at $1.99 per show, a higher percentage of that is going to the network than iTunes. Apple doesn’t have to make money with iTunes.”