May 1, 2008

Apple Expected To Announce Big iTunes Movie Deal Today

Apple is expected to announce today a bunch of partnerships with movie studios that would see digital versions of newly released films to be available on iTunes the same day they're released on DVD. The releases are expected to come from the likes of Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and New Line as well as boutique studios, Magnolia and Image Entertainment.

Back in January Apple announced that it had signed all of the major studios to a movie rental agreement, but has so far only offered older movies titles for sale via the iTunes platform. However, sales of older titles have been impressive enough for all of the major's to take the next step, even risking cannibalizing DVD sales by offering day-and-date digital releases. In fact a few titles as of late, such as the wildly popular Juno have already been released on iTunes the same day as the DVD release.

The announcement today should give us some more insight into Apple's iTunes movie revenues so far, which given today's announcement, we expect will be impressive.

Update: Sure enough Apple did indeed announce iTunes movie releases day-and-date with DVD releases. Says the Apple press release: "New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod® with video, iPhone™, Mac® or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®, with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99."

Via Reuters