Apple Unveils Movie Rentals, Improved Software for TV Device
iTunes Movie Rentals Gets Major Studio Support; Apple TV Gets Software Boost
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/15/2008 3:04:00 PM
Apple officially unveiled an online movie-rental service during CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote address at the Macworld conference in San Francisco Tuesday and also introduced new software for its Apple TV “media-extender” device that will allow users to rent movies from the iTunes online store directly from their wide-screen HD sets.
The announcement of the movie-rental service, simply called iTunes Movie Rentals, was expected after word of a deal between Apple and News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox studio leaked out late last month.
Apple has gained the support of all of the major studios for the new service -- including Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema -- which will offer more than 1,000 titles by the end of February with rental fees of $2.99 for library titles and new releases for $3.99.
The movies will be offered as progressive downloads, allowing iTunes customers with fast broadband connections to quickly begin watching. Customers have up to 30 days to start a movie and, once a movie has been started, customers have 24 hours to finish it and can watch it multiple times. The service will work on Macs, PCs, all current-generation iPods, iPhones and the Apple TV device.
“Apple has created an incredibly easy and innovative way to rent and enjoy movies,” said Jim Gianopulos, chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, in a statement. “Millions of movie lovers will be able to watch wonderful movies from Fox and the other major studios whenever and wherever they want, be it on their computer, TV, iPod or iPhone.”
20th Century Fox and Apple have also partnered on an additional movie service, Digital Copy for iTunes, which provides customers who purchase a physical DVD with an additional digital copy of the movie that they can watch through iTunes-compatible devices. The first DVD to make its debut with iTunes Digital Copy is the "Special Edition" DVD premiere of the Family Guy Star Wars parody, Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest, which is being released in stores Tuesday.
A total of 100 of the movies on the new iTunes Movie Rentals service will be available in HD, priced at $3.99 for library titles and $4.99 for new releases and aimed at consumers who have bought Apple TV units and connected them to HD displays.
Apple created new software for Apple TV that lets users rent and watch movies from iTunes Movie Rentals directly on their HD displays, without the assistance of a computer, and it lowered the price of the 40-gigabyte model to $229.
Jobs also used the Macworld stage to introduce the world’s thinnest notebook computer, the MacBook Air, which measures 0.76 inches at its thickest point and will sell for $1,799.
