Speculation has been rampant on a possible movie rental deal between Apple and FOX to be announced at Macworld. BusinessWeek reported on Monday that the discussions have been futher reaching, more delicate and involve more studios that had been thought. All except Universal/NBC, of course.

Apple needs to breathe some new life into the Apple TV, which was described by BW’s Ronald Grover as a dud. In order to remedy that, Apple has been working hard to close deals with all the major Hollywood studios, but those negotiations have been hampered by the differing goals of each studio and have also involved some considerable compromises by Apple.

Mr. Grover reported that Apple is close to agreements with most of the big studios, but not every deal may be ready in time for Macworld. It appears that Mr. Jobs has compromised on the price the studios want to charge and that some of the studios have backed down on their insistence that the download be delayed until 30 days after the DVD appears at Wal-Mart and other retailers.

The compromises, if reached, could breathe new life into the Apple TV. To date, the absence of major agreements with all the studios combined with some limitations of the Apple TV have gotten the product off to a slow start. Now, in addition to FOX, BW sources revealled that Warner Bros, Paramount, and Lionsgate are ready to structure deals that include sales, rentals or both. Universal/NBC is not on that list thanks to recent, high-profile spats between Apple and NBC.

"Currently, iTunes sells recently released movies from Disney for $14.99 and older titles from studios such as Lionsgate for $9.99. Sources say Apple plans to charge $3.99 a pop for 24-hour rentals. Since Apple may agree to pay closer to the $17 wholesale price paid by other retailers, it’s unclear whether iTunes might boost the price or take a small loss to help drive sales of Apple TV boxes and video iPod players," Mr. Grover reported.

Apple badly needs these deals to move ahead against the emerging competition from all corners and jump start the Apple TV. Evidence of serious negotiations with other studios that includes healthy compromise is a very good sign, and if those agreements succeed, Apple could have a very good year with the Apple TV.