May 06, 2008

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

After pulling its content from Apple's iTunes video service late last year, NBC has now stuck a content deal with Microsoft's Zune.

The deal is part of a massive upgrade to the Zune video service, which now includes shows from Comedy Central, MTV Networks programming, Starz Media Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting, and Ultimate Fighting Championship.

There's also a host of new Zune upgrades, none individually worth calling home about but certainly signs of advancement. Zune owners can now add friends' Zune Card profiles to their portable devices to get auto-updates on what they are listening to and submit user-posted artist and album reviews, among other additions.

NBC pulled its content from iTunes after a dispute over the revenue split -- NBC wanted more, Apple didn't bend. It's difficult to say whether the addition of NBC's programming will have an impact on Zune sales, which have yet to make a real dent in the digital music landscape.

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