Warner, Paramount, Disney, Fox, Lions Gate to Join iTunes Rentals

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg reports that Warner Brothers, Paramount, Walt Disney Co., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, and Fox will begin renting movies through Apple's iTunes Store in an announcement scheduled for January 15th at Macworld.

Bloomberg states that both new releases and older titles will rent for $3.99 for 24 hours, consistent with recent rumors. Fox was the first studio to have signed onto the iTunes rental deal.

Steve Jobs is expected to make these announcements at his keynote address at Macworld San Francisco 2008. MacRumors.com will provide live keynote coverage with web, sms, and iPhone-compatible updates.

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[mainstreetmark]

24 hours?

Why not "once"?

Will the 'set clock forward when you rent' trick work?

[InkMaster]

The more the merrier

[dashiel]

fingers crossed

hybrid mac-mini/appleTV w/blu-ray support
upgrade all video content available at itunes including rentals to 720p
"remote" control widget for the iphone (w/api to control other devices)

[Morky]

As the parent of a young child, I fall asleep halfway through movies pretty often, even if they are good. Why can't I get it for 2-3 days, like I could in the old days when we rented physical media?

[FoxyKaye]

I wonder if this will bring NBC/Universal back to the bargaining table?

[maxp1]

I know, I know. Renting digital movies is stupid. But I might just do it if they can make it convenient enough. Frankly I'm too lazy to go to the video rental place and I don't really watch enough movies to make Netflicks worth it. Bittorrent? Count me as one of those people who doesn't believe in content theft.

[mca7]

I really hope the 24 hours starts when you first play it, not once you download it. Lame if its the latter.

[macdim]

How about some love for Canada?

[miketcool]

Originally Posted by mainstreetmark

24 hours?

Why not "once"?

Will the 'set clock forward when you rent' trick work?

I am sure it will be once. You have X many days to start it. Once you do, unlimited plays, rewinding, and reviewing within a 24 hr period. I am excited, so should all of you.

And to all the presumed future whiners in here: Listen, hear that, it's the sound of violins playing.

[slicecom]

Originally Posted by macdim

How about some love for Canada?

Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get it in 2 or 3 years time.

[zedsdead]

All this about the rentals is great news (outside of the price), however where is the HD rumors! I imagine we are going to get let down in that department for now.

[MarlboroLite]

24 hours is ridiculous and I can't think people would be stupid enough to pay 4 bucks for a movie rental that is probably gonna take 3 hours alone to download and only last 1 day! It takes less time and less money to go to the Blockbuster in my town and I can keep the movie for a few days and watch it on a big TV.

[Forced Perfect]

Originally Posted by mainstreetmark

24 hours?

Why not "once"?

Will the 'set clock forward when you rent' trick work?

I suspect part of the authentication/playback process is verifying with a time server rather than your local time.

But who knows... Maybe you can change your time zone and trick it. :P

[jettredmont]

Sigh. $4 for a single day is Way Too High.

I hate to join the historically incorrect ranks of Apple nay-sayers here, but IMHO this can not succeed. Certainly, I can't envision ever taking advantage of this. I'd rather rent a real disk at the corner, rent it via mail, or just plain buy it. Offering a less-frills option at the same cost as the mid-range-frills options with no convenience benefits is just plain stupid.

I am seriously disappointed in Apple here, should these reports prove true. Jobs should have walked away if this is what the studios were demanding, let them fail at their over-priced schemes, then come back six months later to save the day. Worked well with music!

[TimothyG]

Originally Posted by mainstreetmark

24 hours?

Why not "once"?

Will the 'set clock forward when you rent' trick work?

That is highly, highly doubtful. It'll be a timestamp from the server.

[MrT8064]

Apple, please show some reasonably priced rental love in the UK,

$3.99 / 2 = £1.99

HOWEVER, this is apple - my guess £2.99

[donga]

anyone know why the price point is $4?

[e-coli]

$4.00?

Pretty steep. I don't see a lot of people biting on this with Netflix and Blockbuster around. Those services are cheaper, and you can keep the movies forever if you want.

[mambodancer]

This will be hugh!

I mentioned it to several of my clients and they all think the $4 price tag is fantastic. Several of them have commented that it may be enough to have them discontinue their netflix service.

[numbsafari]

Originally Posted by jettredmont

Sigh. $4 for a single day is Way Too High.

I hate to join the historically incorrect ranks of Apple nay-sayers here, but IMHO this can not succeed. Certainly, I can't envision ever taking advantage of this. I'd rather rent a real disk at the corner, rent it via mail, or just plain buy it. Offering a less-frills option at the same cost as the mid-range-frills options with no convenience benefits is just plain stupid.

I am seriously disappointed in Apple here, should these reports prove true. Jobs should have walked away if this is what the studios were demanding, let them fail at their over-priced schemes, then come back six months later to save the day. Worked well with music!

I agree... I think this is stupid pricing... especially considering that Verizon FiOS offer video on demand services, as does comcast high speed internet. The rates are much better and the pipes are bigger so you can start watching right away.

Using iTunes only makes sense for purchasing.

Oh... and really only for HD quality.

[!¡ V ¡!]

By the sound of this 24 hour rental is seems the clock starts ticking when you hit the "Play" button.

Apple and Company figure that once you start a movie 24 hours is ample time to watch the remainder.

[JINX]

they probably settled on these parameters because they are identical to most video on demand (VOD) settings. You get the movie for 24 hours from the minute you purchase it, regardless of when you start watching it and its $3.99 a movie. The truth is that we use it all the time and the only limitation is the number of movies available (maybe 50 total at a time). If I had blockbuster selection, I would happily do all my movie watching this way. Of course, I'd rather have the option of 1 complete view rather than a time limit (although I've only re-rented a movie because time ran out once), but its mostly fine this way.

The big questions are (a) what will the selection be like, (b) how long with the download process take (c) what will the resolution of the movies be and (d) do you have to wait until the end of the download to start watching. If the answer to 'd' is yes, then the 24 hours might be much more annoying. With VOD, you can start watching right away as it downloads.

All in all, its pretty exciting. I like owning music which I listen to repeatedly, but there are virtually no movies that I need to see more than once.

[Eduardo1971]

Originally Posted by MarlboroLite

24 hours is ridiculous and I can't think people would be stupid enough to pay 4 bucks for a movie rental that is probably gonna take 3 hours alone to download and only last 1 day! It takes less time and less money to go to the Blockbuster in my town and I can keep the movie for a few days and watch it on a big TV.

When I first read about this rumour, I too, thought about this. Seems like a bigger effort to download than going to your local store.

[jettredmont]

Originally Posted by miketcool

I am sure it will be once. You have X many days to start it. Once you do, unlimited plays, rewinding, and reviewing within a 24 hr period. I am excited, so should all of you.

Why are you excited about this? What does it give you that you do not already have at the same price? Are you unfortunate enough to not have a video rental store less than five minutes from your house? If so, where do you live? And, again, if so, is your DSL/Cable connection fast enough that downloading a movie will work for you?

Will this work when not connected to the internet to verify your rental has not timed out? I expect it will either go off your internal clock (which is subject to time spoofing) or will require a check-in every time you hit "play" (which will make it impossible to use on, for instance, a plane, or to watch a movie while out hiking or ...)

I rarely fail to finish a movie once I start it, but I still don't like the 24-hours to finish time limit. It happens enough that I'd hit this limit and it would grate on me.

In any case, the above questions stand. You say you are excited, and "we" should be too. Why?