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CBS says staying out of iTunes pricing battle

A customer checks out Music Store (on a screen) with Apple iTunes at an Apple store in Tokyo. August 25, 2006. CBS Corp does not plan to fight Apple Inc over the pricing of television shows sold on the iTunes online media store, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Kiyoshi Ota/Files

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp does not plan to fight Apple Inc over the pricing of television shows sold on the iTunes online media store, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said on Tuesday.

“We’re sort of staying out of the battle,” Moonves said at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment conference. “We like our relationship with iTunes.”

NBC Universal said last month that it would not renew a deal to sell shows on iTunes because it wanted more flexibility in offering different packages and pricing.

Moonves said iTunes is not a significant source of revenue. “We look at iTunes as much as a promotional vehicle for our shows as a financial vehicle,” he said.

Reporting by Robert MacMillan

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