Disney Sold 1.3 Million Movies on iTunes, Other Studios to Follow?

[Mulyahnto]

yeah seriously. and we all realize apple is holding out on this simply because they hate other countries. after all, why else would they hold out on getting access to more people and therefore drawing more people and making more money? must be xenophobia!!

No it's because you European countries like suing apple + itunes so much, I'm sure they're figuring out all the legal crap before they will put movies on iTms in Europe.

 

[fall3n]

This is pretty exciting. Along with iTV coming out it might actually make more sense to just buy your TV shows and movies from apple (especially if you don't watch that much tv) rather then paying for advertise ridden cable. Of course this would mean they'd have to come out with the latest shows right after or before the airtime....still, could be interesting, but it would still never beat out cable, people need their Superbowl live

 

[xDANx]

Here's hoping the next few months bring some depth and breadth to the catalog. Amazing that they've done as well as they have given the limited current offerings.

And I can't wait to start downloading over N.

this is possibly a misinterpretation on my part, and very probably totally off-topic...but if by 'N' you mean 802.11n then you should probably know that current wireless standards (802.11g) are already about 10 times faster than a (good) broadband connection to a residential home in north america. just because you can communicate with your router faster doesn't mean that information is going to come out of your modem any faster. 802.11n is at present really only useful for networking (and i suppose, in general, range and less interference...assuming a 5 ghz connection)...not internet connections.

 

[Multimedia]

Like All New Media, Canabalizing Existing Media Is A Myth

Historically, new media never canabalizes the existing media mix but rather expands consumption. I've never understood the paranoid execs who think their setup is threatened when a new way of distribution appears.

 

[flyinmac]

for real! why pay around 75 bucks a month for cable movie channel package.

Because cable only costs about $30 to $40 a month for a standard package. And, I watch more than 30 programs in a month and I wouldn't if I had to actually download them and pay for them individually. Paying for them individually would mean I'd be limited to only watching what I paid for, and would cost me at least $2 per show.

But, then again, I won't pay for television anyway. I pull all my shows in using free over-the-air broadcast signals with my trusty (yet rusty) television antenna.

 

[theBB]

Historically, new media never canabalizes the existing media mix but rather expands consumption. I've never understood the paranoid execs who think their setup is threatened when a new way of distribution appears.

I am pretty sure TV reduced the frequency of visits to movie theaters. CDs seemed to have killed the tape sales and DVDs must have reduced VHS rentals. Overall music or entertainment market may have grown, but I am pretty sure some companies (distributors or manufacturers) lost their market.

Think about IBM or HP in the late 1990's. They could see that they had to sell PCs online, but Circuit City, CompUSA, Best Buy etc. threatened to pull the products immediately if they did. That means they were going to lose a lot of sales immediately, but their new sales channel would take time to get traction. That was quite a problem for them at the time and Walmart's threat to stop DVD sales causes a similar conundrum for movie studios. The additional revenue stream from downloads should be substantial enough for them to take on Walmart. I don't think we are there, yet. It is not that easy to switch to a new sales channel.

 

[flyinmac]

Think about IBM or HP in the late 1990's. They could see that they had to sell PCs online, but Circuit City, CompUSA, Best Buy etc. threatened to pull the products immediately if they did. That means they were going to lose a lot of sales immediately, but their new sales channel would take time to get traction. That was quite a problem for them at the time and Walmart's threat to stop DVD sales causes a similar conundrum for movie studios. The additional revenue stream from downloads should be substantial enough for them to take on Walmart. I don't think we are there, yet. It is not that easy to switch to a new sales channel.

Good points.

Personally, I'm not interested in digital downloads at all. So, in my case, if they did away with DVD and CD sales, they'd lose me as a customer.

It is more important to me to have a product I can physically hold and play on any television. And, not having to worry about losing all my videos due to a hard drive crash is also a benefit of DVD videos.

 

[macfan881]

i think if there is a apple specail event on the 20th id think fox or LGF will be the one of the companys that will be next i heard apple was talking with lucas and trying to get SW after they put the clone war series on itunes and rember that in one of LGF shareholders in the notes some where posted on here a while ago that they were close to making a deal or something like that

 

[biggarthomas]

And the answer is. . .

i wonder how many have been sold on iTS outside of the States?

The answer is ZERO. I live in Canada and have been waiting not so patiently for the extenzion of iTMS movies an TV shows to this country. It may happen soon. There is a curious use of language on the Apple Canada site. Whereas every other country , except for the United States, offers Apple TV for sale without mention of movies an TV shows, the Canadian site offers apparently contradictory information. If youaccess the Apple TV sub-site through the online store you will notic that the text refers to wathching movies and TV shows. In other words, Apple is offering Apple TV to Canadians with those capabilities. My deduction is that coincident with the release of Apple TV Canadians will be able to download movies and TV shows.

You probably will not be able to get movies and TV shows for a coupl of years guaging from past Apple practice.

 

[Project]

Apple REALLY need to offer a subscription/rental model. If they released that, I can honestly say I will never buy another DVD or rent from Blockbuster again. It would also then give me a real incentive to buy into Apple Tv.

I am guessing this is the long term plan for Apple. Steve already said that people usually watch a film once or twice and as such consumption is different to music. And they are working on time lapsing DRM for Fairplay. This solution could really makeo online video take off in the mainstream.

 

[210]

Apple TV

I just wish Apple ought to be able to offer Rentals also. like other digital stores do.

If they did that, they would be able to have more studio's join up to rent films because they didn't want to upset their major retailers like Walmart, Target, Bestbuy and more.

not to mention that, but who needs to own these films? we can't even burn them to dvd. I would much rather rental over ownership. give us both options

I totally agree. I think a lot of people would then buy an Apple TV as well. I know I would once movies on iTunes come here to the UK and there's a rental model, I would buy an Apple TV straight away.

BTW, if you buy a movie on iTunes, does it come with 5.1 sound?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

Apple REALLY need to offer a subscription/rental model. If they released that, I can honestly say I will never buy another DVD or rent from Blockbuster again. It would also then give me a real incentive to buy into Apple Tv.

if that happens, a lot of people will swap ISP contracts to something with unlimited downloads

 

[sokrates]

if that happens, a lot of people will swap ISP contracts to something with unlimited downloads

there are still contracts with download limits? where do you live? in Tibet?
but I would agree that a subscription model would make sense

 

[glowingstar]

Disney's chief executive, Bob Iger, claims that digital distribution is "creating more consumption of media" rather than cannibalizing DVD sales, which some traditional retailers have feared.

i see nothing wrong with "cannibalization" of dvd sales (or any other media) by newer/better media systems. in fact, i'd say in this case it's even better if dvd's went the way of 8-track tapes in terms of even just the energy saved from not having to make dvds/cases, not having to use gas to transport them to the store, not having to use gas to take you to the store to buy them, the lack of shrinkwrap, etc. how "green" is that?!

 

[Scarlet Fever]

there are still contracts with download limits? where do you live? in Tibet?
but I would agree that a subscription model would make sense

melbourne, where the internet is pathetically slow (im on 256kb/s now) and expensive ($50 aussie a month). I do get unlimited downloads though, so i just set movies up to go overnight.

 

[MikeTheC]

Part of me is surprised how many people still subscribe to full cable or satellite programming + movie packages, given the amount of complete garbage there is out there.