American Idol Performances Now Available on iTunes

LOS ANGELES, February 19:
For the first time, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Interactive Media, 19
Entertainment, FremantleMedia North America and Apple have joined forces to
offer all of the contestant performances from the seventh season of American
Idol exclusively for download from
the iTunes Store.

Kicking off with American
Idol’s top 24 semifinalists this
week, customers can purchase music performances for $0.99 per song, and
starting March 12, viewers will be able to purchase the full video of the top
12 finalist performances for $1.99. Additionally, fans are now able to
pre-order performances of their favorite contestants from the iTunes Store,
which will be downloaded automatically the day after the show airs.

iTunes will also provide
exclusive direct links from the free streaming performance videos on
americanidol.com, the official website of the show and home to MyIdol, the
Internet’s largest American Idol
fan site. Fans will be able to click through to iTunes if they want to purchase
their favorite performances to own and enjoy on their iPod, iPhone or AppleTV.

“We have some truly
outstanding talent this year, and by working with Apple and iTunes, we’re
giving viewers another great way to enjoy America’s brightest new stars from Idol,” said Simon Fuller, the creator of American
Idol and the founder of 19
Entertainment. “I’m sure there will be many memorable performances that viewers
will want to relive from this 2008 season.”

Added Eddy Cue, Apple’s VP
of iTunes, “We’ve created a special section on the iTunes Store for Idol fans with an incredible array of music and video
performances from television’s most popular show. We think American Idol viewers are going to love the ability to purchase
and download Idol performances
from iTunes.”

—By Irene Lew