There was a large group of execs that said no one would download videos and the commercial television companies would never sell episodes of their shows without ads, it was bad for business. Well it looks like Apple got it right again. In a new report from TV Week Online, not only is the sale of television shows from iTunes soared to over a million a week, but it has boosted the ratings for the shows that are being downloaded.

NBC's "The Office" delivered a 5.1-its highest ratings ever-last Thursday among adults 18 to 49, a bump the network credits in large part to the show's popularity as an iPod download. In fact, the series is NBC's top-performing video podcast available on Apple's iTunes, where it has been available since Dec. 6.

Such a connection between podcast success and broadcast ratings success is particularly significant because the NBC data is among the first available evidence of what network executives have been gambling on when striking their new media deals-that the new video platforms are additive because they provide more entry points into a show for consumers.

The iTunes offering is bringing new audiences to the show that would not otherwise have watched, said Frederick Huntsberry, president of NBCU Television Distribution. "Consumers have choices, and we are not reaching all consumers with one technology," he said. "We are offering content and reaching viewers for the first time. These are audiences using iTunes to manage their music," Mr. Huntsberry said. "Now being able to download TV shows is a new technology they are playing with."