iTunes movie rental fire gets a poke: Warner Bros, Fox, Disney, Paramount and Lionsgate all on board?

Rumors have been swirling that Apple will be offering movie rentals over iTunes for weeks now. Now it would appear that Warner Bros have joined Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate and Paramount in the initial launch. This, according to sources speaking anonymously to Bloomberg. The announcement is expected to be made on January 15th according to the report, presumably during Jobs' MacWorld keynote. Both new releases and older titles will rent for $3.99 for 24 hours. Bloomberg's sources also indicate that Fox may join as a supplier of movie downloads. While the details may change, an iTunes rental service announcement on Tuesday seems a near certainty given the recent multi-source, confluence of data.

[Via Appleinsider]

[Olternaut Posted Jan 9th 2008 4:29PM]

Yeah but you know that Apple isn't in control here right? Its those idiotic movie companies. I suppose I can tolerate this plan if and only if they include high definition downloads. But I suppose this would be hoping too much right? :(

[Muu Posted Jan 9th 2008 4:45PM]

$3.99?

If they can offer 720P or better...

[xacto Posted Jan 9th 2008 6:40PM]

There seems like a lot of people complaining about having only 24 hours. From what I understand, the time factor is just limited to the RENTAL movies... you will have the option to purchase it forever for $9.99. Better then nothing I guess.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 9th 2008 6:51PM]

$4 dollars for 24 hours???? WTF?? What you can't make it a freaking week? That is WAY to much money to only rent it for the day. I knew they'd manage to screw this simply idea up, before they've got started.

The only way I'd rent a movie for $4 buck, is if it'd downloaded in 5 minutes flat. So I could start watching right-a-way, because if I had time to think about how much I'm paying for this, I'd walk my lazy ass across the street to the video store, where the guy ONLY charges $2.50

[0megapartcle Posted Jan 9th 2008 6:55PM]

Not saying anything not already talked about by others, but that is way too much. I would not pay more than 1.99, at an absolute maximum, for 24 hours.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 9th 2008 9:25PM]

As one of the very few that actually owns an AppleTV, I'm excited about this announcement. And, as others have said, for renting downloaded movies, the price is pretty standard. Not great, but standard (Amazon Unbox uses the same price for new releases).

Thus far, I've just been ripping my DVDs and importing them to iTunes so I can stream them on my TV using my AppleTV (like my own personal all-my-favorite-movies OnDemand). But if iTunes offers rentals, I'll be able to do more (although Apple really needs to negotiate for more content--selection is pretty dismal).

I would love a Netflix-type model (as somebody suggested) where you pay a monthly fee and are able to check out a certain number of movies at a time, but with an unlimited amount of time to view them. I doubt that's the route Apple will go considering they're all about restricting the way you use content.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2008 1:14AM]

$4 for 24 hours? LOL, I don't think so!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2008 1:14AM]

$4 for 24 hours? LOL, I don't think so!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 13th 2008 8:21AM]

Try out ReelTime. It's my favorite place for streaming movies. A six months subscription is 19.99. A 24 hour PPV runs from .99 to 3.99, without having to be s regular subscriber. A lot of the .99 movies are included with the subscription.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 13th 2008 10:49AM]

Have you'll tried ReelTime? There are several time-framed subscriptions. A six months subscription in 19.99. On a PPV basis, movies run from .99 to 3.99. Most of the cheaper movies are free of charge with the subscription

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 17th 2008 1:59PM]

I agree that this $3.99 is far too much. Within 5 miles of my house there are 3 of those RedBox machines where I can rent any movie for $1.49 and 2 other competitors boxes that charge $1.99 for any movie. Sure I have the convenience of not leaving my home, but for $2.50 less, I will 'suffer' the drive. This is the exact reason I have not rented movies from Amazon onto my Tivo as well. Only way I would pay $3.99 a movie is if I could watch it immediately, instead of waiting a couple of hours to view it.