News Corp. is becoming more vocal in the mini revolt the major studios are forming against Apple, stating that they would like more control over the pricing of content sold on iTunes, and flexibility for selling content through other venues. NBC Universal and the Universal Music Group have pulled content from iTunes, opting to not renew long term contracts with iTunes. Instead, Universal has aligned with several other retailers including Amazon and Wal-Mart for selling songs, television shows and movies.
Both Amazon and Wal-Mart are trying their hands at a different pricing model, surely to steal market share from iTunes, which is sticking to its one-size-fits-all approach. So far, the pricing difference has generally been lower than what you'll find at iTunes, differentiating between more popular titles selling at a higher price, and lesser-known acts getting a larger discount. This price difference is still more reflective of Amazon's and Wal-Mart's attempts to go up against the industry leader--Apple.
What News Corp. and content owners really want is more control over the pricing of their products. What this could end up meaning for the consumer is an overall increase in the price for content, and a larger disparity in prices for popular and less-popular content.