Apple's 'iTunes Replay' Service Not Coming Soon, and No Netflix Competitor Either

[MacRumors]

Apple's rumored iTunes Replay service is still "a ways off" CNet reports. According to the publication's sources, Apple has yet to sign the required cloud agreements for feature films with at least four of the top six film studios. Apple reportedly started pursuing these agreements earlier in the year, but sources say the negotiations "could drag on for months".

iTunes Replay was described as a service that would allow customers to redownload movies or even stream them to Macs or iOS devices. The recent availability of TV show redownloads through iCloud seemed to suggest that Apple could be close to a similar Movie offering. CNet reports, however, that movies are a different beast altogether.

One major reason is due to the "HBO window", which is the period of time in which HBO owns exclusive electronic distribution rights for movies from three of the top six studios. During this time, online retailers such as Apple, would be prevented from providing downloads or streaming of those particular movies. The entire industry may be held up with the same issues, so it seems there will be some resolution to it over time. But, as said before, it will simply take more time.

CNet also debunks the supposed deals that Apple had in place to launch a Netflix competitor. According to the same industry sources, Apple does not have any deals in place to create a Netflix-like subscription service.

Article Link: Apple's 'iTunes Replay' Service Not Coming Soon, and No Netflix Competitor Either

 

[jacobj]

So? This was always going to be the case. Movie studios are backward in their insight. They refuse to adopt a low cost, high volume model. I don't understand why they resist the Apple developments. Surely having a massive distributor like Apple on board with full rights is better than piecemeal dsitribution services.

I still see that Blockbuster (UK) gets exclusives for 2 weeks. Really? Talk about flogging a dead horse!

PS 8 years and finally I get first response - perhaps I should have tried harder!

 

[jonnysods]

This is a shame. I paid the money for my movies, it's locked down to one iTunes account. It makes sense to me. I'm sick of having TV shows scattered across my machines, I just want it to be available anytime I want it without keeping track.

As for the Netflix thing - why would Apple bother? I hear that Neflix are facing higher contract pricing from the studios now they see how much Netflix make...

 

[troop231]

The thing I want most is the ability to watch feature films at home on the same day/week they get released in theaters. (Without pirating) Now that would be cool!

 

[BC2009]

The reasoning in the CNET article regarding the "HBO Window" being a stumbling block for "iTunes Replay" baffles me. It seems to me that the "HBO Window" is a more of a stumbling block for purchasing the movie on iTunes in the first place rather than re-downloading the movie. The way the "HBO Window" is described is that HBO has exclusive electronic digital distribution rights during the first three months of the movie's availability. We already experience this with our inability to get certain movies on iTunes that are otherwise available via HBO or possibly via DVD.

However, from what I have seen, the HBO release of the movie seems to trump the DVD release anyway, and apparently it must trump the Pay-per-view and Digital Streaming Rental services as well. I don't see how CNET thinks that the "HBO Window" is a stumbling block to "iTunes Replay" any more than it is a stumbling block to iTunes, Pay-per-view, Netflix, or any other electronic digital distribution medium.

 

[samcraig]

I don't understand why they resist the Apple developments. Surely having a massive distributor like Apple on board with full rights is better than piecemeal dsitribution services.

Don't make this "personal" about Apple. It's not the movie studios resisting Apple... they are resisting many things - Apple is just one distributor amongst many and amongst other issues the industry as a whole is facing.

 

[FriarNurgle]

Somewhere a cable company Exec just gave himself a big fat bonus.

 

[BC2009]

The thing I want most is the ability to watch feature films at home on the same day/week they get released in theaters. (Without pirating) Now that would be cool!

If that ever happens you will pay a hefty premium for it. Movie studios make quite a bit of money with staging the theatre and home releases. However, if my screen was large enough (say 75 inches), I would not mind just watching at home for a $30 rental fee and saving the money on the snacks and on the babysitter. Such a scenario would likely put movie theatres out of business since they already operate on thin margins -- not sure that would be in the studio's best interests, but they may see greater distribution and would have the ability to place trailers with the movie and sell "trailer spots" for advertising dollars to other studios or at least trade "trailer time" with other studios.

 

[winston1236]

not shocking, look at how long it took spotify to finally be able to come to the us, and that was just the music labels.

 

[Lesser Evets]

So? This was always going to be the case. Movie studios are backward in their insight. They refuse to adopt a low cost, high volume model. I don't understand why they resist the Apple developments. Surely having a massive distributor like Apple on board with full rights is better than piecemeal dsitribution services.

Amen to that critique. The studios remind me of monkeys with that weird trap where a peanut is placed in a hole, the monkey grabs it and can't let go, the fist too big to get out of the hole, so the greedy monkey struggled until the trapper walks over and nabs him. Studios would rather be trapped grabbing single peanuts than being smart and farming bigger profit across a wide area.

In the next decade they will have to wake up to something coming: whole catalogs released for entertainment servers. Imagine the profit they can make through marketing whole servers that rent movies from entire catalogs from the basement of every hotel/cruise ship/wherever.

The world is changing, but the entertainment bean counters exist in their formative decade of the 80s or 90s, or whenever. I still remember how the dying movie industry screamed and howled and cried about VHS tapes around 1980, and how they charged $100 a tape/movie because people were buying the rights to watch again and again. So everyone copied. When they lowered the price and opened the catalog to distribution, people bought, and their coffers flowed over. This is exactly the same situation, but with slightly different tech.

 

[troop231]

If that ever happens you will pay a hefty premium for it. Movie studios make quite a bit of money with staging the theatre and home releases. However, if my screen was large enough (say 75 inches), I would not mind just watching at home for a $30 rental fee and saving the money on the snacks and on the babysitter. Such a scenario would likely put movie theatres out of business since they already operate on thin margins -- not sure that would be in the studio's best interests, but they may see greater distribution and would have the ability to place trailers with the movie and sell "trailer spots" for advertising dollars to other studios or at least trade "trailer time" with other studios.

I see the movie theaters going out of business someday anyways. Imagine a website like Netflix where you could watch new release films and PAUSE them if you want haha. Subscription based model might work well.

 

[Jerome Morrow]

I see the movie theaters going out of business someday anyways. Imagine a website like Netflix where you could watch new release films and PAUSE them if you want haha. Subscription based model might work well.

Theater experience is not going anywhere. Unless you can put 100 (or what size it is) feet screen with surround sound in every home that is.

 

[troop231]

Theater experience is not going anywhere. Unless you can put 100 (or what size it is) feet screen with surround sound in every home that is.

Personally, a Samsung PN64D8000 is good enough.

 

[bushido]

movie studios have no clue and r stuck in 1990 with slow modem internet. the times have changed and they need to start realizing it, first the whole DRM BS, anti piracy ads on a dvd i BOUGHT! they should thank me and not assume i'm also a pirate and so on

 

[macnisse]

"...sources say the negotiations 'could drag on for months'".

Curious on what this means, i.e. how do companies like these negotiate?

Do their lawyers actually email/call each other continuously back and forth for months until offers get "hot" enough and there is a physical meeting to get down to "real" business, i.e. round table discussions?

Or is it more like... "meh, this offer is no good, lets have another meeting in a couple of months"?

 

[utahnguy]

Keep it up

Keep it up movie industry, keep up the same ********* and see what happens. The "HBO window"? Are you kidding? Giving a rapidly-declining-in-popularity network priority over digital distribution? Genius! Keep on taking away or inhibiting my choices and I, along with millions of others, will gladly continue to build up the torrent networks.

How ignorant can a group of people be? Napster happened a few years ago and it's like it never did. The entire music industry fought the internet and digital distribution until it nearly upended the entire industry. They could have embraced it and controlled it from the very beginning, but instead the stuck their heads in the sand and acted like it didn't exist until they became so desperate they had to give all control over to Apple and iTunes or go out of business. Does the movie industry think they're any different? Do they honestly see a different outcome?

Id prefer it if they went with iTunes because that would make life easier for myself, but I'd settle for any competitive option. What I love about the current situation is that we don't have to play by their rules until they decide what they're going to do, we can simply circumvent them and use torrents. The consumer almost never has that option when an industry is screwing them over, it's usually play ball or get nothing at all, but we can play ball or give them the finger and download it ourselves. Thank you internets.

 

[samcraig]

"...sources say the negotiations 'could drag on for months'".

Curious on what this means, i.e. how do companies like these negotiate?

Do their lawyers actually email/call each other continuously back and forth for months until offers get "hot" enough and there is a physical meeting to get down to "real" business, i.e. round table discussions?

Or is it more like... "meh, this offer is no good, lets have another meeting in a couple of months"?

Offers like these are hundreds if not thousands of pages and can go back and forth for clarification, points being argued, language being used, etc over and over. It's not remotely uncommon.

 

[Jerome Morrow]

Personally, a Samsung PN64D8000 is good enough.

Lucky you then.

 

[utahnguy]

Theater experience is not going anywhere. Unless you can put 100 (or what size it is) feet screen with surround sound in every home that is.

20 years from now, or possibly less than that, I imagine display technology will allow "screens" to be anywhere, along with "speakers". An at-home cinema experience will be possibl for the common home and I could see that becoming a genuine threat. Then again in 20 years they might have some new gimmick that's only in the budget of large theaters.

Can't wait to find out! I'll be 45 then, that's weird to think about.

 

[jayfehr]

I see the movie theaters going out of business someday anyways. Imagine a website like Netflix where you could watch new release films and PAUSE them if you want haha. Subscription based model might work well.

Until there is another place for teenagers to go on first dates, or just to hang out with friends it's going to be a long while for theaters to disappear.

 

[fxtech]

Lucky you then.

Not really.

 

[silentnite]

Always ripping the little guy off, this is why pirate bay did so well and others like it. I don't wanna wait a year to see True Blood on DVD. It's not like I'm not willing to pay for it.

 

[mazz0]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5288d Safari/7534.48.3)

Apple could buy HBO, if that would help!

 

[mazz0]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5288d Safari/7534.48.3)

Always ripping the little guy off, this is why pirate bay did so well and others like it. I don't wanna wait a year to see True Blood on DVD. It's not like I'm not willing to pay for it.

Exactly silentnite - they're costing themselves so many sales by delaying releases to certain market, particularly overseas (because I'm overseas which makes it important)

 

[rhett7660]

The thing I want most is the ability to watch feature films at home on the same day/week they get released in theaters. (Without pirating) Now that would be cool!

I don't see this happening for a very long long time. Studio's aren't going to kill the movie experience and the money it generates from them any time soon. However I agree with you completely!!! I would love to be able to sit at home and enjoy a film that was just released. Heck I would even pay a premium for it. Just so I wouldn't have to go to a dang movie theater and listen to everyone else during the movie.