Apple and Fox nearing iTunes movie deal?
By Nilay Patel 
posted December 3rd 2007 8:06PM
posted December 3rd 2007 8:06PM
You may no longer be able to get your NBC fix on iTunes, but you may soon be able to soothe that downloader's angst with the fine motion pictures of the Fox Corporation. AppleInsider claims Apple and Rupie M. are close to a deal that would put Fox's full catalog on iTunes, which would basically end a year of standoff negotiations between the two. AI says that it was actually Apple that backed down at the table, and that Fox will be allowed some pricing flexibility for new movies. That's pretty interesting, considering how resolute Apple's been on the pricing issue as it applies to music -- looks like movies get a little more love from Mr. Pixar. Either way, we won't find out what's what for a while -- AI also says that the deal won't be announced until after the holidays so as not to interfere with DVD sales.
January 15th, anyone?
720P movies anyone?
Rental of 720p movies via Apple TV anyone?
more like 15 bucks a movie thats being reported on gizmodo...
So Fox and apple doesnt want this to interfere in DVD sales. Like we havent abandoned DVD altogether already now that we've gotten a taste of HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and Imported Fox HD-DVD titles that areonly on bluray in the US. YAWN. this is so exciting.
You live in your own little world, and I compliment you for it, it's a blessed state.
I hope that "Mr. Pixar" comment was a joke. I laughed.
Honestly, they really should announce it now as it would most likely spur a few more Apple TV sales just in time for the holidays.
It would be in Apple's best interest to start it now, and reap those benefits. I high doubt 20th Century Fox is going to be affected too too much, anyway. I think 20th Century Fox tends to be a little pricier on their products when it comes to different technologies beyond the status quo of a DVD.
Exhibit A is UMD's for the PSP. All Fox UMD's at Fry's tended to be $19.99 and above (atleast last I checked) while all the other studios were going for broke trying to sale them for $9.99, as was Freddy Vs Jason when I purchased that or Columbia's Spiderman II.
I myself will not play this game with iTunes or Sony's (maybe someday down the road) soon to launch movie download service. Unless it's really a good movie and I want it instantly, I will just go to Fry's and pick the DVD up from there, then Handbrake it.
One copy to view on all!!!
clearly ... so they will have something more to announce at Macworld
Fox's "full catalog"? Something's getting lost in translation here. You're talking about probably 20,000 films there. That is not happening.
Maybe "full catalog that we've already cleared the rights and done digital transfers for", which would be a fraction of the real full catalog. Probably something like 1%-2% of it.
I work in the TV industry and part of my job is dealing with clearances in putting films on the web. It is such a mess that there are going to be many, many films that will just *never* make it onto the web. A lot of people on the outside don't understand this. Even with films a studio "owns", they may not have explicit distribution rights for digital download. A film made in the 1960's is just not going to have that in the contract and a lawyer is not going to want to take the chance on doing it anyway. So then it's a question of tracking down the people that would need to sign off, and often they're halfway around the world or they're dead or you have to deal with an estate or some rival company. And you have to do that with basically every single film.
Going forward, this is generally not a problem except in extreme cases where, for example, a major star may want to retain control over his/her downloard rights. But it's in the standard contract now.
For catalog titles, though, it is not a simple thing to just dump your full catalog onto a download service. And it's a legal issue, so it's not just a question of spending time and money doing the transfers (which is itself no small thing, it's just not what I have most experience in dealing with).
You are saying fox is afraid dead people sue them.
OK then..
Talking of deals, when will they make a deal with the writers already.
The true reason for the authentication chip in current-gen iPods will be revealed, and we will all be in shock.