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Apple Working to Add Movies to iTunes

Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 1:20 PM - by

Apple is currently negotiating with the major studios to bring feature length movies to the iTunes Music Store before the end of 2006. According to Forbes, the studios are willing to work with Apple, but are unhappy with the proposed US$9.99 per movie flat fee.

Apple offers a flat fee system for music downloads: $0.99 per track. It want to offer a similar system for movies. The studios, however, want to be able to charge more for new releases and more popular titles. One studio executive commented "We can't be put in a position where we lose the ability to price our most popular content higher than less popular stuff."

Despite pressure from the music industry, Apple has so far refused to allow for a sliding scale for song prices. But insiders think Apple may be more flexible when it comes to movie prices, allowing for a $9.99 to $19.99 price scale.

Rumors are floating through the industry that Apple is working on a larger format iPod more suitable for longer shows. A simultaneous iPod and movie announcement would be a good move for Apple and the studios, so it's likely they will reach a pricing agreement in time for a new iPod product launch.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:31 pm

More popular new stuff? Most of it does not interest me, at least to have a copy, I have mostly been buying classic and foreign film festival stuff.

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mahuti said:

member since 09 Jan 2003 with 377 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:55 pm

9.99 to 19.99 for a movie download. Now THAT's rediculous. Maybe $3.99-$6.99 for a download, but anything much above that is adding extra expense above buying a hard copy. Where's the added value in the download? A DVD costs from about $7.99 to $19.99 and you get tons of extras plus a case & storage medium, AND they're pretty convenient to buy... everybody caries them. Why should a download cost that much or more?

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fo said:

member since 23 Aug 2005 with 39 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:06 pm

If what I've read elsewhere is true, movies will only be put up for sale after they've been released on DVD. Even at $9.99, I doub that many folks would choose the download option (depending on the quality). Forget it at $19.99. If part of the movie industry's strategy is to curb illegal downloading, then this won't do it. As mahuti mentions above, a lot of people like the extras they get with a DVD, and it's automatically archived. I'd think the range of prices should be more like $9.99 for a hot new release and $4.99 for anything else. I see online downloads as a competitor for movie rentals, not movie purchases.

Movies and music are two different animals – I don't think the same formula will work for both. People enjoy listening to their music repeatedly. I don't see a lot of people wanting a hard drive full of movies to choose from.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1922 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:53 pm

I agree with Guest, most of the big films out there don't interest me either. For that matter I'm still waiting for iTunes to get TV shows I want. Seriously Survivor etc are less than uninteresting for me. I'd love to see some of the late night serials from Cartoon Network. How about some of the Walking With _____ shows from Discovery. The Future is Wild from Animal Planet, Alien Planet also from Discovery. There's a huge backstock of old programs going back to the 50s. If they could get that out there, I'd bite.

Blockbuster films aside, I wonder if it might be easier to get less popular stuff on iTunes. I mean the big studios will try to drive a hard deal and push their latest big thing. Indie studios might be more accommodating. Heck, some of the smaller ones might just be thrilled to get their stuff exposed.

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:17 pm

LOL here we go again. Last time it was telling us all how cultured and above the "drivel" that the music industry puts out you all are. Now its time to tell us how sophisticated your taste in movies is. As before, the tastes of a few geeks does not dictate what large companies do, its the tastes of the mass population that generates the highest amount of money. Sorry guys, but the MTV watching mind dead masses have more power than you do. Live with it.

But anyhow, I agree that $19.99 is hilarious. I'm gonna pay more than I would for a DVD? Don't think so. $9.99 would be fine for a high end price, but is not gonna cut it for a low price. I would have to assume Apple knows this. It's fairly obvious, so I don't see how in the end the movie studios could actually expect to charge $19.99. Who knows maybe this is just PR designed to create expectations so that we will all be happy when the movies actually debut at a "low" price.

And then of course this is the whole HD thing. Ah well. It's not like we know things Apple doesn't. They know what they are doing.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1922 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:31 pm

Biff wrote:
Sorry guys, but the MTV watching mind dead masses have more power than you do.\

Unfortunately, you're probably correct. Both about who has the power and the mind dead part.

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iJack said:

member since 13 Jun 2001 with 313 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:20 pm

This today from the IMdB "Studio Briefing"

Apple's Steve Jobs Reportedly Loses Stand-Off with Studios

Apple Computer Chairman Steve Jobs, who successfully battled the record companies to hold the price of single records sold on the iTunes Music Store at $.99, has been unable to convince movie studios that they should sell movies on the iTunes site for a flat $9.99, Daily Variety reported today (Monday). The trade paper said that the movie studios don't want to antagonize major retailers by allowing Apple to sell movies online for less than the stores sell them on DVD. Variety also quoted studio execs as predicting that Apple will announce a deal with the studios at the same time that it unveils a new video iPod with a larger screen.

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algr said:

member since 07 Aug 2003 with 296 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:48 am

A video on iTMS has less then a quarter of the pixels that a DVD has - it's lower quality then VHS, and would probably take longer to download then the time it takes most people to run off to the movie rental place. And they want to charge the same price as buying a DVD? I doubt it. If anyone likes a film enough to want to own instead of rent it, they will want it in a higher quality and more permanent form then DRMed data files that might become unusable when they buy a new computer.

The only way this would work is if iTMS had exclusive content - films that you can't rent or buy easily.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:10 am

<I> There's a huge backstock of old programs going back to the 50s. If they could get that out there, I'd bite. <I>

I agree, and this would be the perfect place for some upstart to come in with a subscription model for video content, allowing you to view a wide variety of shows like MASH or SOAP or Monty Python or Ed, shows that may not make the best sellers list on dvd, but are still quality shows. This is where Napster can get a huge leg up on iTunes with a subscription based service if you ask me. Not that you did.

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