Apple Compromising On iTunes Movie Terms?

[MacRumors]

Businessweek reports that Apple may be close to striking a deal with most of the major movie studios to provide movies for the iTunes store.

Apple may have had to compromise on a number of issues including pricing in order to get everyone on board. Apple has reportedly agreed to pay studios "closer to the $17 wholesale price" that they get on physical DVD sales. In return, studios may offer online releases on the same day as their DVD debut. Businessweek states its unclear if Apple will increase end-user prices or simply absorb the cost in an effort to promote iPod and Apple TV sales. Apple currently charges $14.99 for new releases and $9.99 for older titles.

Businessweek's sources also claim Apple's movie rental service will be priced at $3.99 for a 24 hour rental, which is consistent with recent rumors.

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[mozmac]

Why rent for $3.99 when you can do Redbox for $1?

[azentropy]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Businessweek's sources also claim Apple's movie rental service will be priced at $3.99 for a 24 hour rental, which is consistent with recent rumors.

$4 for 24 hours will flop bigtime.

[samh004]

But if your going to buy a whole movie, will Apple offer an easy-to-use burn-to-DVD option if you want to do that with a downloaded movie ?

If they can expand both the sales and rentals to other countries too, that'd be really useful.

Hopefully they'll up the quality a bit too.

Originally Posted by azentropy

$4 for 24 hours will flop bigtime.

Perhaps if they the offer that $4 off a purchase of the movie if you like it ?

[Dorfdad]

If the 3.99 deal is true, I really do not care about this deal.
I have the same deal from my cable company 3.99 or 4.99 for HD movies instantly. Yes I can not watch them on my IPOD but im not really interested in that anyway as the older models can barely live through one movie.

If Apple wants to make this a hit they have to make it cheaper! There competting with some MAJOR players and charging 17.00 for a reduced quality version is un-acceptable to me..

and 24 hrs stinks as well. Make it at least a week rental. I love apple just not that much...

[sebimeyer]

IF this is true it would be a huge deal, not just for Apple. The Writers Guild of America is striking right now because writers get nothing, or hardly anything, for content they wrote that's sold on the internet.

So far the studios are saying "we'd like to pay you, but wen don't know how much we should pay you, so here is nothing instead." If they suddenly make the same amount, or close to, on internet sales that they previously made on DVDs, that line won't fly anymore.

Not saying it won't happen, but it's a mighty weird time to do something like this, if you are a studio head because it would essentially give your opposition (WGA) even more reason to stay on strike.

[Popeye206]

Oh no! give us more than 24hrs! At least give us 5 days to watch a flick!

I think 24hrs will be a mistake. There are too many times, things come up that I need more time. Please, let this part be wrong!

[pieseller]

taking a hit on the pricing of the content to maximise the available downloadable video should increase ipod sales and apple tv for sure

remember a device is limited to the content on it. more stuff on itunes= higher ipod sales.

and its with the electronics devices that they make the higest margins.

[kbmb]

Originally Posted by mozmac

Why rent for $3.99 when you can do Redbox for $1?

Yeah....I really think all these online rental schemes are making users pay a premium for not having to leave their home. C'mon....$3.99 for only 24 hours! Make it $1.99 at least, or give people 72 hours to view it.

Redbox is interesting.....at only $1/day for a rental.

-Kevin

[wordmunger]

Originally Posted by kbmb

Yeah....I really think all these online rental schemes are making users pay a premium for not having to leave their home. C'mon....$3.99 for only 24 hours! Make it $1.99 at least, or give people 72 hours to view it.

Redbox is interesting.....at only $1/day for a rental.

-Kevin

$3.99 is what you pay at blockbuster or for pay-per-view. Why not $3.99 for 24 hours? It's the same price, but you get your movie instantly without leaving home, and you have a larger selection of movies than pay-per-view.

[zelmo]

Most new release DVD's can be found at some b&m retailer for $14.99 to $16.99, and for that you get a optical copy, a nice package and maybe a booklet. Why would I pay the same amount to download? I just can't see Apple agreeing to a price hike for new releases, unless it is to prove to the studios that there is a limit to how much people will pay for a download.

As for $3.99/24 hr rentals, it's the same as I pay to Comcast for new OnDemand content. It's the going rate...nothing sexy about it.

hohum

[ks-man]

Originally Posted by wordmunger

$3.99 is what you pay at blockbuster or for pay-per-view. Why not $3.99 for 24 hours? It's the same price, but you get your movie instantly without leaving home, and you have a larger selection of movies than pay-per-view.

Because you first need to pay $300 just to be able to watch it on your tv.

[wordmunger]

Originally Posted by ks-man

Because you first need to pay $300 just to be able to watch it on your tv.

No, I would connect my computer directly to the TV to watch. But if the service was good, I'd certainly consider getting an Apple TV and weaning myself from Satellite TV.

[dmelgar]

Sad that the entertainment industry with their misunderstanding of the digital market will again succeed in choking their emerging revenue stream.

Overprice and over protect content. Its been shown to fail in the past and will fail in the future. They don't understand that torrents are always available.

$4 for 24hrs is too much for too short a period of time.

It reminds me of when banks used to charge EXTRA for the privilege of banking online, even though the banks cost was much much less.

Now banks have gone the other way and charge if you don't bank online and its free online.

Maybe in another 10 years the industry will provide good content online for low prices.

Online rentals should be cheaper, not more expensive. There's no physical media, no store, no people to pay, no mail. But they insist on trying to choke money out of customers when they finally offer what customers want.

[fluidedge]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

$3.99 for a 24 hour rental

Ouch - needs to be more like 3 days imo

[levitynyc]

Just give me some HD content and I will be happy. If its all DVD or below quality then its a rip off as you can get it for the same price with better terms on the xbox 360

[Small White Car]

I liked Roughly Drafted's idea for rentals:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/1...tunes-rentals/

It's like Netflix. I pay Apple each month for 2 or 3 "empty slots" on iTunes that I can fill with any movie I want. The movie stays there until I download another one to replace it. It's exactly like how Netflix sends me a DVD and I get another one once I send it back.

Too bad they're not going that route.

[levitynyc]

Originally Posted by ks-man

Because you first need to pay $300 just to be able to watch it on your tv.

As opposed to buying a DVD player or VCR which cost like 800 bucks.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by fluidedge

Ouch - needs to be more like 3 days imo

From what I've heard, the 24 hours starts when you first WATCH it, not when you download it.

Which is better, but still, yeah...

[fluidedge]

how is this whole '24 hours' thing going to work?

a) If i put it on my ipod (manual updating) then it'll be on there for good? So i can 'buy' the movie to play on my tv (with the AV Kit) when ever i like for $4

b) What if i don't open itunes for a week? I can still access the file from Finder

c) Can i not backup the file to an external HD and dump it on another computer so it'll always play?

d) won't some kid find a way to disable the time code/clock on the file(?) so it doesn't 'delete' itself after 24 hours say?

[kbmb]

Originally Posted by wordmunger

$3.99 is what you pay at blockbuster or for pay-per-view. Why not $3.99 for 24 hours? It's the same price, but you get your movie instantly without leaving home, and you have a larger selection of movies than pay-per-view.

More than anything...I'm arguing about ALL 24 hour rentals. It's absurd. At least give people the ability to have a few days to watch the movie. At least 48 hours....but 72 would be nice.

I downloaded a movie from Amazon Unbox the other night. My wife and I have to rush through the end the next day to finish it before it deleted. I'm sorry, but with 2 kids, life can get hectic and we might not finish the movie the first night.

Would it really hurt these places to allow for longer viewing times?

-Kevin

[notjustjay]

Apple should conduct an experiment. Let the studios price their digital downloads however they like, and let Apple show them the resulting sales losses (and track the increase in torrent activity at the same time).

Meanwhile, another studio could be convinced to price their digital downloads fairly -- and see their sales soar.

I refuse to pay even $15 for a digital download where just a few dollars more will give me a physical disc, higher resolution, DTS/DD 5.1 surround sound, cover art, featurettes and other extras, subtitles, multiple languages, etc, etc. Nowadays I buy my movies from the Previously Viewed bins, and pay only $5-10 each, which is far LESS than the cost of a digital download. Not to mention not having to download gigantic files and then figure out how to back them up.

Don't even talk to me about RAISING prices on downloads.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by levitynyc

As opposed to buying a DVD player or VCR which cost like 800 bucks.

Or $30

[fluidedge]

e) sounds a bit virusy/intrusive doesn't it? I don't like the sound of files disappearing off my system. Won't someone work out a way to start removing key files from the registry after '24 hours'?

Am i being paranoid? It just sounds a bit dodgy having files magically remove themselves

[notjustjay]

Originally Posted by levitynyc

As opposed to buying a DVD player or VCR which cost like 800 bucks.

I only paid $480 for my DVD player.

In 1998.