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Hollywood tries to circumvent iTunes, ends up paying for iTunes movies

Saturday, November 19, 2011 · 4:56 pm · 24 Comments

“We get it. Hollywood absolutely hates how much influence Apple has in the industry,” Joshua Schnell writes for Macgasm. “iTunes and those game changing iPads are seriously putting a kink in Hollywood’s plans for digital distribution dominance.”

“Case in point: UltraViolet, a newish program from the major Hollywood companies that was supposed to make it easier for movie lovers to enjoy their films on all of their devices,” Schnell writes. “Turns out the implementation of UltraViolet is so poor that Warner Bros. has decided to give customers the ability to download their latest offering, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, from the iTunes Store for free.”

Schnell wonders, “Is there a new definition for ‘dropped ball’ that we’re unaware of at this point?”

Much more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Lynn Weiler" for the heads up.]

Categories: News

Tags: apple tv, feature films, films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hollywood, itunes store, movies, Ultraviolet

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Comment Feed

24 Comments

Thelonious Mac

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:00 pm · Reply

The version of Harry Potter they sold apparently require, get this, Adobe Air.
- Cubert
  
  Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:15 pm · Reply
  
  I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a spork.
Beowulf97

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:02 pm · Reply

Wow. I literally just went through this not 5 minutes ago. Hahahahaha!! Downloading my free iTunes copy as I’m writing this. Ultraviolet/Flixter = Epic Fail.
ken1w

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:13 pm · Reply

Customers win. Apple wins. “Hollywood” loses… If they had just distributed through iTunes Store, they would have won too.
- Bizlaw
  
  Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 10:21 am · Reply
  
  The crazy thing is that if Hollywood would just embrace iTunes and go with it as a distribution platform, they could save all the money needed to develop a download service, operating costs, hardware costs, bandwidth costs, etc., and probably sell more movies in the process.
DRMSSDB

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:25 pm · Reply

Some people cannot understand what makes Apple so successful. It boils down to some simple concepts. One of them is making technology that can be used easily and works. The movie studios obviously placed more of an emphasis on their business model than developing a good product. I guess that makes sense from the studios since that is generally how they approach making movies.
Alicekk

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:43 pm · Reply

One of the reasons is successful in media distribution, and why these Hollywood companies can’t replicate the success (even Sony) is simple.

If I’m selling cookies, and your selling cookies, we can have our individual stores where we sell only our own cookies, We can go to a third party (apple), or I can sell my cookies through my store and allow you to sells its at mine too, but mine get better prices, exclusivity, and you lose control.

Trust me guys, we need third parties for this. When movie making companies sell movies, they end up fragmenting the market and causing only confusion for consumers.
- 8^þ
  
  Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 10:59 pm · Reply
  
  You mean if Hollywood controlled the distribution, we’d end up with things like DVD regions… Ah, yes. D’accord!
- 3l3c7ro
  
  Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 4:21 am · Reply
  
  I am impressed at your effort to try to explain this when it is obvious that English is your second language. I have to admit that it took me a long while to work though the spelling and grammar mistakes to finally almost get your meaning. Good effort!
  - Darkness
    
    Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 3:36 pm · Reply
    
    Now let’s see you explain it in his/her language? Could you do half as well?
    
    For the record, I had no trouble understanding this comment at all. And Alicekk Is absolutely correct.
Chuck

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:50 pm · Reply

Ultraviolet = “If I’d have pirated this I’d be watching it right now”
Paul

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 6:22 pm · Reply

I go to iTunes and it’s $19.99. Did read this right?
- ken1w
  
  Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 6:38 pm · Reply
  
  I read it as customers who BOUGHT the product were able to download a copy, using their custom app. But the app they created did not work very well, so they gave customers a free copy through the iTunes Store, as compensation for the crappy app experience.
  - Beowulf97
    
    Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 7:54 pm · Reply
    
    You are exactly right. This is for people who bought the physical copy of the movie. Which says is have a digital copy for download. But you have to use their craptastic program for it. It uses adobe air for craps sake. And the iOS program is a giant POS.
leodavinci1

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 7:24 pm · Reply

The problem with UlltraViolet (and all the other schemes the entertainment industries develop) is that that they are simply new attempts at DRM.

Really… if they are going to “allow” us to watch the content we pay for on any of our devices, what is the point of even having DRM?

They keep trying to re-invent the wheel. Why are they wasting their time, their efforts and especially their money with this nonsense? All they need to do is give us content without DRM and let us consumers rip/convert content (on our own dime and time) to whatever formats we find need.

Remember the Amazon 1984 ebook bruhaha? I suspect the real reason for their wasteful activity is something similar… they simple want to retain ultimate control, and that means having the ability to control when, where, and IF we can watch something.
Johnny Appleseed

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 7:52 pm · Reply

I hope one day the studios wake up to the reality that the music labels already have: people can get DRM-free content for nothing through file sharing, so if they offer DRM-free at a reasonable price they might just have a chance of making more sales.
dude mcfarland

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 8:27 pm · Reply

Any product relying on flash or AIR is DOA.

Nice EPIC fail dudes
KBW

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 8:33 pm · Reply

How do you go about contacting WB for the ITunes code ? There is no direct contact through their website unless you enter the full title of the film, but it does not recognize the title as valid. Is there a phone # somewhere to call ?
Abdullah

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 9:28 pm · Reply

I’ve always felt the Achilles Heel of the iTunes ecosystem is the fact that it relies on non-Apple, third-party content for its success. That’s not been such a big problem with music because Apple basically rescued a sinking ship with the iTunes Store.

But movies came a little later. The digital online model had by then become a liitle more familiar, the movie industry was not facing the same kind of existential threats the music industry was facing, and movies also make their really big bucks in cinema halls.

So the studios have some leeway to try some things that would not make them dependent on iTunes. The effects of that are obvious – while the iTunes music store features all the major artistes and major releases, the movie store often has pretty slim pickings once you get beyond the first page of what’s on offer. It’s not chock-a-bloc with the latest and greatest offerings.

There’s no way Apple can own all content or even the largest portion of it. But the company has so much cash lying around that it should be able to buy a major studio, and assure itself a “safety-catch” and constant supply of hit movies for the iTunes Store.
Marty

Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 1:16 am · Reply

It’s so funny to see companies try and make a quick knock off of something that took years of design and billions of dollars to create.

Good luck, idiots. If it was that easy, everyone would be rich.
Derek Currie

Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 2:49 am · Reply

Dear MPAA: Welcome to the modern world. Catch up.
darksarkasm

Monday, November 21, 2011 - 9:57 am · Reply

what a bunch o’ greedy dumb-asses
Jimbo von Winskinheimer

Monday, November 21, 2011 - 4:31 pm · Reply

I ran into this same issue with The Green Lantern. Bought the movie and tried to use the code. It required Adobe Air. I gave in and installed Air and it still was a pile of crap. I was not able to watch the movie on my Mac and I was not able to get it over to my iPad.
Gene

Monday, November 21, 2011 - 5:30 pm · Reply

MPAA is just forcing ppl to go one of two ways:
Buy from iTunes
or
Rip the DVD