Apple Scraps 99-Cent TV Rentals

CUPERTINO: Apple has withdrawn the option to rent TV shows, which had been offered to customers for $0.99 an episode, from its iTunes digital store and its Apple TV set-top box service.

"iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows," Apple said in a statement. The company said the introduction of the iCloud service will enable customers to store content they’ve purchased online, then watch it whenever they want on any Apple device.

Consumers can still buy individual episodes, and Apple and its network partners also offer Season Pass options bundling a year’s worth of programming.