We've heard this about this dream so many times before, DRM that will make digital media as easy to use and as consumer friendly as a physical medium like DVD. We'd normally be quick to disregard this as yet another DRM "ecosystem" for digital media, but the list of players backing the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (or DECE) has us taking notice. As impossible as this seems, if anyone could make it happen, it'd be a group composed of: Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Fox, HP, Intel, Lions Gate, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, VeriSign, and Warner Bros -- yes, we also find it hard to believe that all these companies are working together. We'll have to wait until January at CES for the ins and outs of how this would actually work, but we do know it'll be based around a "rights locker" which will amount to a website where digital purchases will be stored -- we assume this is where VeriSign fits in. Oh, and Apple is noticeably absent from the list

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]

It ain't announced until it's announced, but the same Lionsgate CEO (Jon Feltheimer) that confirmed iTunes movie downloads was apparently on a call with analysts yesterday and divulged that his business has "nearly a dozen active agreements in place for digital delivery of our content with such major players as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Blockbuster, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart, with more to follow." (Emphasis ours.) Not a huge surprise, being that Blockbuster is already fighting tooth and nail with Netflix, and downloads are a natural progression for Best Buy's retail services -- so unless this guy is sorely mistaken about his company's prospects, keep an eye out for Blockbuster and Best Buy to get even further into the online media game.

While it's unclear how long it'll be able to keep it up, Apple looks to be making iTunes Movie Store announcements a monthly occurrence for the time being, following up January's news of a deal with Paramount with word of Lionsgate joining its ranks this month. That means that starting this month you'll be able to snag Total Recall, Terminator 2, and other movies that may or may not star future governors of California for $9.99 apiece (for the most part), currently playable in iTunes or on your iPod, and soon to be streamable to your Apple TV. All told, some 150 of Lionsgate's movies are set to be ready for download by the end of the month -- yes, that includes Rambo. Of course, this news doesn't exactly come as a surprise, given that none other Lionsgate's CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed that the company would be offering iTunes downloads last year. No word on what's taken them so long.

[Thanks, Adam W]

You might consider BitTorrent to be the discerning pirate's choice when it comes to obtaining everything from movies to software. Well, it's about to go mainstream, given that BitTorrent, Inc. announced a partnership with pretty much everyone in Hollywood, including 20th Century Fox, G4, Lions Gate, MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and plenty others. This isn't the first time that the establishment has saddled up with everyone's favorite file sharing company, although we're not exactly sure what the effects were on the seedy underground of the internets, nor what new revenue Warner Bros. saw from that deal. Still, this new unnamed service's offerings and prices will be made available in February 2007, which will be when the BitTorrent's new online retail marketplace opens for business.

[Thanks, Alan]

Not surprisingly, Apple is facing heat from Hollywood companies that want to sell their movies on iTunes, but don't want to play by all of Apple's rules. The big issue is whether or not Apple will restrict the number of devices that can play a film bought from iTunes; Universal, 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. are rightfully concerned with rampant digital piracy and how iTunes might help inadvertently contribute to that. Of course, Hollywood could go the Wal-Mart or Amazon Unbox route if Apple won't back down, but then those studios would miss out on some of that big Apple halo action. Still, if Disney and the soon-to-be-added Lions Gate are already at the iTunes party, it seems unlikely that the rest of Hollywood could stay away much longer.

[Via Apple Insider]

We have no idea why they chose today to do it, but today seven major movie studios announced they'll be selling movies online through Movielink and CinemaNow. Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, and MGM will all be distributing first-run titles online -- definitely something they've never done before -- through Movielink for between 20 and 30 bones (way, way too much if you ask us), with older movies going for between $10 and $20. Lionsgate (and Sony) also announced distribution through CinemaNow. Really this was only a matter of time -- for these guys it was either sell these things online DRMed all to hell for way too much money (see above), go the subscription route (like Vongo, for example -- not likely) or continue whining without any justification whatsoever about pirates stealing movies in the Internet. At least now they can say they've legitimately offered their digital content up online (hey, you can even make a DVD backup for use only on Movielink-authorized computers), even though they still can't account for the artificial demand they try to create by releasing movies for purchase months after the films have gone out of theater.

[Thanks, Phil]