ITunes Adds FOX HD, Sells 200M TV Eps.

Apple announced today that it added straggler network FOX to its HD offerings, giving iTunes high-definition TV programming from all the major broadcast networks. Apple also announced that it has sold more than 200 million TV episodes, a million of which were HD shows downloaded since high-definition programming was added last month.

iTunes now holds more than 70 primetime comedies and dramas from the fall 2008 TV season, including The Office, Grey’s Anatomy and Bones. Standard definition versions of shows remain at $1.99 a pop, while HD versions are $2.99.

But hold on there, buster. Didn’t we just run a story this morning calling out Apple for it’s inability to push more product? Two hundred million downloads ain’t too shabby. True, that’s an impressive number, but if you scratch the surface (as our friend, and author of this morning’s ant-iTunes post, Robert Seidman pointed out) that’s the total number. ITunes has 30,000 TV episodes, which translates into an average of 6,666 downloads per episode sold. That ain’t much.

Granted, averages don’t always tell the whole story, and some episodes outsell others. But as you spread it out, that 200 million becomes less impressive. Additionally, we don’t know whether or not Apple is including the free TV episodes it offers in that 200 million, and if so, what percentage they make up.