For all the bickering between television networks and Internet sites (well, iTunes, mostly), it’s interesting how often the word “free” has popped up this week.

The latest example: season premiere episodes of seven Fox Broadcasting programs will be made available for free through Apple’s iTunes, according to the Los Angeles Times. The hope is that downloads of “Prison Break,” “American Dad” and other shows will spur viewers to stick with those shows on TV, or to pay for them online later on iTunes.

The move comes on the heels of NBC’s announcement that it will make its top shows available for download to view for free. Remember, NBC recently pulled the plug on its download deal with iTunes. The shows will be free for one week immediately after their broadcasts. ABC also said its shows will be available for free on AOL.

Earlier this month, News Corp said it had no plans to pull its TV shows from iTunes like NBC, but echoed the media industry’s calls for Apple to be more flexible in its pricing.

I guess you can’t get more flexible than free.

(LATimes)

Keep and eye on:

• Those Google guys are really really rich, like richer-than-Wal-Mart rich. Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page came in at No. 5 on Forbes’ list of richest Americans with fortunes of $18.5 billion each, and helped nudge off long-time list residents — the members of the Walton family, descendants of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates is the richest person in America for the 14th year in a row. (Forbes) (Reuters)
• The verbal sparring between principles of DreamWorks and its parent continued on Friday with DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen suggesting that he may not stick around when his contract expires next year. This comes after Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said Geffen’s DreamWorks partner Steven Speilberg “…and his team have the right to leave if they choose at the end of next year. We’re planning for that.” (WSJ)
• “Halo 3″ hits stores on Tuesday and Microsoft projects first-day sales of the game to eclipse the $125 million mark set by its predecessor. The game is being seen as the potential rescuer of Microsoft’s Xbox video game business from six years of losses. (Reuters)