Lionsgate Movies Added To iTunes

[MacRumors]

Apple announced in a joint statement with Lionsgate that more than 150 movies from the studio would be added to the iTunes store by the end of the month.

“We’re delighted to offer these incredibly popular Lionsgate films on iTunes, and look forward to adding even more films in the future,” said Steve Beeks, president of Lionsgate. “iTunes lets users download these wonderful films to watch on their computer, TV or iPod, so movie fans can take their favorite Lionsgate films with them anywhere.”

iTunes customers will be able to purchase blockbuster Lionsgate films like “Terminator 2,” “LA Story,” “Basic Instinct,” “The Blair Witch Project” and “Dirty Dancing” and more than 150 titles coming to iTunes this month. Lionsgate joins Paramount and Disney, who just recently announced that it had sold over 1.3 million movies since it joined the store.

It appears that the release is limited to a portion of Lionsgate's catalog rather than new releases, similar to the current deal with Paramount.

[ Digg This ]

[Grimace]

sweet!! how many of the big studios are left?

[JonHimself]

It definitely can't hurt right? The more studios, the more money they'll make (hopefully), and in turn the more other studios will jump on-board.

[Ha ze]

I'd say this is good. Any mention of if its going to just be older films (like paramount is doing) or if it'll be old and new releases (like disney is doing)?
either way this is good.


on a slight side note
Has anyone else noticed that in the movie store, that at the "more in movies" section that the only studio listed is Disney? seems like that should be updated now

[calculus]

'The iTunes Store'? - I guess you mean the US iTunes store.

[Evangelion]

Originally Posted by Grimace

sweet!! how many of the big studios are left?

Fox, Universal, Sony/Columbia, Dreamworks, MGM, Warner....

[RichP]

Originally Posted by Evangelion

Fox, Universal, Sony/Columbia, Dreamworks, MGM, Warner....

and Apple would have to grab Columbia out of Sony's dead, cold, hands...

[zwida]

Originally Posted by JonHimself

It definitely can't hurt right? The more studios, the more money they'll make (hopefully), and in turn the more other studios will jump on-board.

Exactly. I think this is a momentum thing. At some point it will just make too much sense to be selling through the iTunes store for a big studio to avoid it. They may hate the level of control that Apple currently has over media distribution, but they're profit minded, and I suspect they will succumb.

[scu]

Originally Posted by zwida

Exactly. I think this is a momentum thing. At some point it will just make too much sense to be selling through the iTunes store for a big studio to avoid it. They may hate the level of control that Apple currently has over media distribution, but they're profit minded, and I suspect they will succumb.

It is DeJa Vu of the beginning of iTunes. Intially only a few songs were available. Over time there will be thousands of movies and all the studios will be on board. Give it time.

[Sayer]

Bill Gates needs to hurry up. A year plus after the 360 launched, and months after the Xbox Live Video Marketplace there are still only a tiny handfull of movies and TV shows available, to rent only, on the system. And you must use the silly Microsoft points system.

To be even more dismal some movies are "hidden" and can only be accessed via advertisements such as CRANK and Jackass II. Adult swim's section in TV is completely empty, despite AS being the exact match to the typical 360 owner demographic.

[damien341]

good news, this itunes-thing becomes bigger and bigger

[ClimbingTheLog]

Originally Posted by RichP

and Apple would have to grab Columbia out of Sony's dead, cold, hands...

Nah, not once all the others are online. I think you're right about their resistance - they'll be last. Sony's too big for its own good, but they do allow their business units to avoid suicide.

[BornAgainMac]

"...download these wonderful films ..."

[neverfade]

From a marketing standpoint this probably wouldn't work too well, but I think iTunes should be renamed something else.

There's a lot more than just tunes. Music, videos, tv shows, games, movies, podcasts, auidobooks as well as it will bring you to the apple store if you want to buy an iPod.

When apple first came out with iTunes, before the iPod, I don't think they were planning on it growing with more media than music. It was a jukebox then - now it's a lot more..

Oh well, just a thought!

[andiwm2003]

how can it be that all movies are available at walmart online? are apples conditions worse for the studios?

if itunes want's to stay in the video market then they better convince the studios and get all movies online. maybe the studios fear itunes success and down the road monopol but they have to convince them.

because all people who set up their computers/media centers for the walmart store are lost customers for apple/itunes. and no, i don't think that the fact that walmart movies don't play on ipods is going to save itunes. i don't see a lot of people watching $10 movies on a mini screen. $2 tv shows yes but not movies.

[Maccus Aurelius]

Finally another studio jumping in. I'd love to see Warner Bros., Universal and Columbia come into the mix. Unfortunately, as another has hinted at, only the US store gets this sort of content. The rest of the world is very much in the dark with regards to iTunes' growing video content. My gf in Montreal can't even download her favorite episodes of Lost. Fortunately, the US is not a little place, so will still be a healthy stream of income for iTunes' video store. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of legalities that I haven't thought of with regards to launching a global video store.

I think that the pricing for some of the movies is atrocious. Some of the Disney flicks that have been around for over a decade now are way overpriced. I could go out right now and get a DVD for nearly half of what some of those videos ask for, and at the same time I'm just as willing to pay more than what iTunes charges for some of them for the unrestricted, rippable DVD, which doesn't have the 5 computer per account rule applied when converted into mpeg-4/H.264 format.

If you ask me, an eventual iTunes video rental service would really boost support for the ATV I believe. It would have the same perceived value as renting a physical DVD and at the same time means a far smaller cost than the likes of Blockbuster and local video rental places, not to mention the convenience for anyone with a high speed connection. I'd rent a lot of movies if iTunes had this service, even though I'd still buy the DVD later on (if I think it's worth purchasing).

As for the whole iTunes infrastructure itself, I'm wondering how this all goes considering the growing animosity the European governments have against the closed iPod+iTunes ecosystem. For people that have Macs, such as myself, this isn't a really big deal since no matter what Macs will have few mp3 players supported, but for the majority that uses iTunes on Windows this is a very big deal. I'm wondering what will happen if and when iTunes opens up to other players, or if the DRM-wrapped media will be set free and allowed on non-Apple hardware. As nice as the ATV concept and iPods are, people want more choices, which they feel Apple may be locking out. While I love my iPod, I sort of agree with them. The more and more content is released in the store, the more people will be looking at other hardware wondering when the hell Apple will let them just buy the music and movies and play it elsewhere.

I'm sure few look at the Zune Marketplace with this sort of critical eye because it's US only. If and when it goes Global, then that's sure to make things interesting.

[notjustjay]

Originally Posted by neverfade

From a marketing standpoint this probably wouldn't work too well, but I think iTunes should be renamed something else.

There's a lot more than just tunes. Music, videos, tv shows, games, movies, podcasts, auidobooks as well as it will bring you to the apple store if you want to buy an iPod.

Yes, especially now that it is about to become the data clearinghouse for the iPhone.

When Steve was demoing the iPhone in his keynote, and he said that the phone would sync with iTunes to pick up all your contacts, addresses, photos (!), etc., I winced. Whatever happened to iSync?

[DavidLeblond]

Originally Posted by RichP

and Apple would have to grab Columbia out of Sony's dead, cold, hands...

You're 100% right... just look at Sony Music, totally nonexistent on iTunes.

[twoodcc]

this is great! keep the studios coming

[Maccus Aurelius]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

Yes, especially now that it is about to become the data clearinghouse for the iPhone.

When Steve was demoing the iPhone in his keynote, and he said that the phone would sync with iTunes to pick up all your contacts, addresses, photos (!), etc., I winced. Whatever happened to iSync?

I think that's a bad ideal. I can see the iPhone syncing the contacts through iTunes like the iPod does, but really shouldn't have this as your only choice. Bluetooth syncing is much more convenient since iSync is a very small app that quickly zips contacts over, not loading the much larger iTunes all the time. If the phone has bluetooth it should still have the option of iSync, perhaps he just didn't bother to mention it.

[bretm]

Originally Posted by Maccus Aurelius

I think that's a bad ideal. I can see the iPhone syncing the contacts through iTunes like the iPod does, but really shouldn't have this as your only choice. Bluetooth syncing is much more convenient since iSync is a very small app that quickly zips contacts over, not loading the much larger iTunes all the time. If the phone has bluetooth it should still have the option of iSync, perhaps he just didn't bother to mention it.

iSync has pretty much been moved to the sync panel in system prefs. The only thing using iSync is 3rd party devices.

That said, syncing across the board should simply be controlled and done through the sync control panel. But now it happens in 3 or 4 places! iPod/phone in iTunes. .Mac in sync panel. 3rd party devices like my Moto phone in iSync. And Palm devices in the palm hotsync. It's pretty ugly.

[uNext]

iTunes is no longer a perfect name for the application.

Its no longer just about music.

They need to rename it. I mean they renamed their company to apple inc to go hand in hand with their multimedia movement not only computers.

The new name should either follow the "I" trend/monicker or the following.

The apple store online "T.A.S.O"
Apple online etc.

iTunes just sounds like a music player and we all know is beyond that

[Mgkwho]

The six major studios:

Buenea Vista (Disney), Paramount Motion Pictures Group, Time Warner, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Fox Entertainment Group

Oh, that's right. Lionsgate isn't part of the US Big Six. It's in Canada. (Although it is like the biggest movie studio outside of the US).

Sorry folks, nothing to see here...still have four more to go like we did a day ago.

-=|Mgkwho

[ijimk]

good to see more content being added. now for that pesky DRM to go away...

[Porchland]

Originally Posted by neverfade

From a marketing standpoint this probably wouldn't work too well, but I think iTunes should be renamed something else.

There's a lot more than just tunes. Music, videos, tv shows, games, movies, podcasts, auidobooks as well as it will bring you to the apple store if you want to buy an iPod.

When apple first came out with iTunes, before the iPod, I don't think they were planning on it growing with more media than music. It was a jukebox then - now it's a lot more..

Oh well, just a thought!

Seems like I read something way back when the first TV shows came onto iTMS/iTS that Apple has said it would eventually transition its content brand to something other than iTunes. The shift from iTunes Music Store to iTunes Store, then, was the first step in a gradual shift.

Apple has so much brand equity in iTunes that I wonder whether they'll ever actually do this. (Then again, iPod mini had great brand equity when Apple went with "nano" instead of just calling the nano a mini.)

The most logical time to change the name would be the launch of a device that is marketed primarily as a portable video player.