News

iTunes Offers Movies on DVD Release Day [Updated]

Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 7:55 AM - by

Apple began offering movie purchases at the iTunes Store the same day they are available on DVD on Thursday. The iPod maker struck a deal with several major studios that that lets customers purchase and download "day-and-date" releases instead of going to the store to buy the DVD versions of movies.

Apple has been offering movies for sale for several months, but so far those have been primarily movies that have already been released on DVD.

Adding day-and-date movie sales to the iTunes Store could potentially eat into studio's DVD sales. Despite the cannibalization risk, however, several studios including Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, New Line, Magnolia and Image Entertainment are on board.

The first two movies available for download at the same time as their DVD release are American Gangster and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

iTunes Store movie rentals are cost between US$2.99 and $3.99, and purchase prices range from $9.99 up to $14.99.

[This article has been updated with additional information about same-day iTunes movie purchases.]

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Thu May 01, 2008 1:51 pm

How could they NOT be doing this? Charging full retail price for a movie that is much more limited in use and features than a physical DVD, and they get a much larger cut of the sales because of much smaller distribution costs [and no distributors in the "value" chain].

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jbruni said:

member since 14 Jul 2006 with 73 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu May 01, 2008 2:34 pm

The "lost DVD sale" point is really kind of dumb. Here is an analogy:

Suppose I make lemonade and I sell it to two different retailers. One retailer sells it in glass cups and the other sells it in plastic cups. As long as the money I get for the lemonade is the same, who cares that people stop buying it in glass cups?

The studios make money on content sales regardless of channel or format.

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