“Major movie studios have agreed to allow Apple Inc.’s iTunes to sell movies on the same day they are released on DVD, another sign of Hollywood’s acceptance of business models that encroach on traditional DVD-sales markets,” Sarah McBride and Nick Wingfield report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Films from most studios hadn’t been available on iTunes until weeks after their DVD release. ‘This is a game changer,’ said Craig Kornblau, president of General Electric Co.’s Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms,” McBride and Wingfield report.
“[Other] online retailers don’t have the same draw as iTunes. When iTunes started selling TV shows online, it helped take the market to $175.8 million last year from barely anything two years earlier, according to Adams Media Research,” McBride and Wingfield report. “Apple hasn’t said how many movies it has rented since introducing the feature in January. Adams Media says the video-rental market totaled $24 million last year.”
“Apple has seen great success in music sales. It has sold more than four billion songs and earlier this year surpassed Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to become the biggest retailer of music in the nation, according to NPD Group Inc.,” McBride and Wingfield report. “Apple hopes it can translate some of its music success to movies.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
Let’s hope that some day soon movies will be released in theaters and iTunes on the same day. That would be awesome!
It’s on. Time to get some more AAPL.
It’s back up to $180.00 again. Almost gained back 90% of what it lost in January!
If this is any sign of how things are going, I haven’t been to a video rental store since Apple started renting movies.
Doubt I ever will again.
How nice for those deployed overseas…so much for waiting 5 months for viewing a movie now.
Another notch in the Bloodbath Belt of Apple….
Now all they need to do is offer a online Movie rental subscription service like Block Buster or Netflix, then I can cancel my subscription to BlockBuster!
I say its time for Apple to sell movies in Europe
This news means iTunes movies rental is not a success… ’cause it doesn’t cannibalize DVD sales and rentals.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the press release said nothing about rentals, only sales. Another press release said one studio would be renting on-line the say day DVDs go on sale – only one.
What about rentals being available? What’s Blockbuster & Netflix’s deal on that? Is there usually a delay between the DVD going on sale and being able to rent?
This will lead to Apple TV being able to back up to a time machine directly.
Or at least it should. If people are going to Buy& store paid for content on their Apple TV and Apple TV alone, then they will need to be able to back it up without a computer.
When the iPhone becomes an Apple TV remote, people are going to trip. Searching Youtube and iTunes via Apple TV remote is no fun. Using the iPhone’s keyboard is going to be sweeeeeettttt!
“[A]nother sign of Hollywood’s acceptance of business models that encroach on traditional DVD-sales markets.”
Huh? The Warner Bros. statement said their trials showed simultaneous electronic release increased DVD sales. Substantially. So it would seem this move enhances DVD sales rather than encroaches on them. Granted both words start with “en”, but surely even a journalist should be able to tell the difference between them.
What they really need to do is release the films while they are still making them. This way what the actors could possibly see while watching the film is now, right now. Everything that is happening now is happening now. The actors would of course pass then. When? Just now. They’re at now, now.
“Adams Media says the video-rental market totaled $24 million last year.”
Is that a typo? The video rental market had to be more than $24 mil. Maybe $24 billion.
Mac+
That is one way of looking at it. Or you could also say, Apple has proven to the studios that iTunes can be a viable distribution channel, so lets get on board. I would think they want to make money, something you don’t realize is that with out the DVD production cost, the digital distribution is also a lot more lucrative. So no, I think you are wrong… again.
eMax
Baking up is already happening. Apple TV gets linked to an assigned Mac, from their you can copy, backup or do whatever you want. You still need a Mac running Time Machine. Don’t expect Apple to build it directly in to the Apple TV, because it would be over kill.
I meant Backing not baking, although I could probably do that with my old Mirror Door G4.
The next outsourcing destination.
I may be missing something here but I seem to no longer have the option to buy movies thru Apple TV just rent them.
can anyone tell me on i tunes and store what the difference is between renting a film and actually buying it.