iTunes to offer movie downloads on day of disc release
Apple brings almost all major studios on board
Apple will today announce that almost all of the major movie publishers will begin offering new titles as iTunes downloads on the day the films are released on disc.
So claims US Home Media Magazine citing unnamed sources.
Apple has been selling movie downloads for some time, but it's yet to gain widespread studio support. Back in January, it said it had, however, persuaded all the majors to offer their content on a rental basis.
If HMM's moles are correct, that presumably provided the Mac maker with the opportunity to revitalise its efforts to persuade studios not delivering downloads through iTunes to begin doing so.
According to the magazine, Universal, Fox, Paramount, Warner, Sony, Lionsgate and others will today say they will allow iTunes to sell new movies for $15 on the day those films are released on DVD. They will also begin offering back-catalogue movie downloads for $10 a pop.
Disney already offers iTunes movie downloads from the day of the DVD release.
The list of studios isn't complete, but Apple now has the backing of the studios offering the vast majority of movie releases.
It's not clear whether any or all of these will also be offered in HD. Current movie downloads are standard definition, but since Apple is offering HD rentals - 720p versions, at any rate - it's surely only a matter of time before downloads go that way too, especially since it'll be hoping Apple TV owners will use their HDTV-connected boxes to buy films.
COMMENTS
High Def? The ISPs won't like that...
If they went apeshit when the iPlayer got popular (yes, looking at you Tiscali), they're REALLY not going to like people trying to download legit HD content (about 8GB, just for the film, it's the whole disc rip that's in the tens of gigs... uh, not that I'd know).
Ho hum. Another idea that won't work in the UK.
Not in Canada you say?
Oh, right. You didn't mention that. All Canadians get are some music videos and a few Canadian TV shows. The only use for an AppleTV here is to load pirated movies on.
POINTLESS
i bet we get charged £15 to download a movie! how long will that take on shitty UK BB? i can buy anything new, delivered for about £12 - and i have the original - that i can trade in etc (or give to someone for xmas if its shite :)) i have collateral if i buy an DVD. its like on the ps3 - save like 5£ to downlaod content - but you then cannot sell it etc - so its actually more expensive.
how the hell doe they expect you do download HD films? arent they like 50GB?
more apple nonsense!
Buying in every sense of the word?
If that's a real purchase agreement, the DRM should allow the burning of a movie to DVD or Blu Ray once or twice - after all, we can burn something from iTMS a few times legally (unless you go for pricey option, where possible, and get unrestricted MP3). How many appleTV boxes have actually been sold anyway? Am sure the last time I heard it mentioned, the answer was 'not many'.
Should be before the DVD/Blu-ray release
After all, the delays to disc releases are down to the logistics of producing the packaging and discs then shipping them to the stores.
What better way to get the movie download market off to a good start?
