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iTunes Movie Rentals at $2.99 for 30 days?

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FinancialTimes reports that Apple is in talks with Hollywood studios about launching an online movie rental service.

The iTunes movie rentals would reportedly be $2.99 for a 30 day rental, but would allow films to be moved to at least one other device -- such as the iPod or iPhone.

The target for this service is believed to be autumn of this year.

Steve Jobs has always been vocal that customers do not want to rent music, but has never specifically excluded the possibility of movie rentals. In fact, at the shareholder meeting responded to a question about movie rentals through the Apple TV, Jobs replied "One never knows."
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2007/06/10/itunes-movie-rentals-at-2-99-for-30-days/
i would prefer a netflix-style rental model. $20 a month, "rent" 4 movies a time.

still, it's better than owning them for $10 or whatever it is.
 
wow...thats a really good deal....I might spend the extra money to own the movie for a good amount of my movies, butstill it be nice, because I know to many time in my head, I'm thinking "I'd like to see that movie, but its not worth 10bucks for me"
 
more options = happier people! some would dissagree... but i would even like a dollar for a day/night kinda thing... like those red boxes at my local Stop and Shop...
 
I would use this only if it allowed you to rent the movie to see if it is one that you would watch again and if you want to buy it you can just pay the difference in price and keep it instead of it deleting itself.
 
I'd jump on this.Rarely do I watch the same movie more than 2-3 times a month and in the long run the ratio gets longer.

$2.99 for 30 days is a nice deal.

What I'd like to know is what the bandwidth/bitrate/quality would be.
 
A case for AppleTV

While iPod and iPhone may be good for TV shows, sports updates, podcasts, etc, AppleTV is made for TV rentals. Just allow the user to browse and download movies directly from AppleTV with no need for the computer to be even turned on. Just store the movie locally and then allow the user to delete it or let it lapse after the rental period is over!! This alone can be a killer app for AppleTV.

In fact, movie rentals should be lower priced with AppleTV only feature. If you want more devices to share them, then make it a little more expensive - just to appease the MPAA.
 
My first reaction: Completely acceptable.

My cable provider charges $2.95 for back catalogue and $4.95 for new releases. Seems fair.
 
Peace said:
What I'd like to know is what the bandwidth/bitrate/quality would be.
Click to expand...


Probably the same as current TV shows or movies to download. It definately would allow for instant gratification. I have noticed after the first 10 megabytes or so are dowloaded of a show I can just start watching it while it downloads. Total waiting time about 3-5 minutes from order to watching. I like it!
 
I'm gonna bet at least 4.99 per rental, probably for 2 weeks tho

This would be a nice option, would kill Blockbuster/Netflix, and make Microsoft behind somethin else..
 
thejakill said:
i would prefer a netflix-style rental model. $20 a month, "rent" 4 movies a time.

still, it's better than owning them for $10 or whatever it is.
Click to expand...

Why?

If you aren't renting four movies a month, then you just giving Netflix free money!

If iTunes add a rental service, thus would just provide another convience for me. I would still go to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video as I could get to then a lot quicker than it would take to download a large 1GB file! But that would be for movies I know iTunes does have.
 
I would love this. Even though I have Netflix, I may sometimes want an impulse movie download, and $2.99 is the perfect number. Lets hope HD comes into the mix soon, $4.99 for HD?
 
The Toon Master said:
I'm gonna bet at least 4.99 per rental, probably for 2 weeks tho

This would be a nice option, would kill Blockbuster/Netflix, and make Microsoft behind somethin else..
Click to expand...

No it wouldn't. I pay 15/mo for Netflix. Which means as long as I get 5 movies a month, which I do, I come out ahead of this deal. And I get higher quality and can watch them on my TV (and get 5.1 surround) with my 360 or a cheap $30 DVD player instead of the stupid Apple TV. Netflix wins.

And before someone says "Well, you have to wait for the postal service, blah blah blah" it's a moot point for me. I only have time to watch movies on weekends anyways. I drop them in the mail on Monday and have 2 new ones on Wednesday. And then they sit around until Friday when I actually get a chance to watch them.
 
This proposal sounds fantastic. But, how long will it take before someone figures out how hack the rental download to make it a permanent download?
 
Curtis72 said:
Why?

If you aren't renting four movies a month, then you just giving Netflix free money!

If iTunes add a rental service, thus would just provide another convience for me. I would still go to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video as I could get to then a lot quicker than it would take to download a large 1GB file! But that would be for movies I know iTunes does have.
Click to expand...

$20 is not for four movies a month. $17.99 is for 3 movies at a time. So, you could theoretically watch about 24 movies in a month for $18.00/month. I pay just $10/month for one at a time and get about 8 movies per month. This includes Bluray. Can't beat the netflix price for the quality. Blockbuster is even better now that I can return and get another one for free from the local store. So, I can get even more than 8 movies per month for about $10/month. This also includes Bluray (and HD-DVD). For Apple to succeed, they need to make this 720p (1280x720p, true surround sound) and $2.99 for one week or a subscription plan where you get one movie at a time for a max of 8 movies per month for $10, etc.
 
Now we're talking...

It's a fair bet that like Netflix there would be severals subscriptions offered in addition to the "standard" $2.99 per movie. I'd also expect a rent-to-own option, where paying an additional $7.00 - $12.00 allows you to purchase the movie.

AppleTV sales would almost surely improve if a service like this was introduced to the iTunes Store (in addition to higher resolution video). Apple would likely want the same day-and-date as Blockbuster and Netflix (among others) have with DVD sales. If so, look for Walmart, Best Buy and other retailers to lobby studios aggressively to limit the catalogue and to create a post-DVD release window for services like this.
 
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