Apple and 20th Century Fox strike digital movie rental deal

News Type: Event — Seeded on Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:46 AM EST

Article Source: Valleywag

technology, apple, itunes, 20th-century-fox

The Financial Times reports that Apple and News Corp. s 20th Century Fox film studio have signed a deal for digital movie rentals. Consumers will be able to rent the latest Fox DVD releases from iTunes for a limited time. The deal, which will likely be announced at Macworld in January, would likely be matched with an upgrade for the woebegotten Apple TV which has been de facto dead on arrival since it was released. It is suspected that Disney, which has extremely close ties with Apple -- Steve Jobs is its largest shareholder after Mickey bought his Pixar animation studio -- will be on board at launch as well.

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8.0

2.9

{"commentId":1304630,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}

Andy Min

Will Apple TV finally turn into something.... useful?

{"commentId":1304630,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}

3 votes

#1 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:47 AM EST

{"commentId":1305646,"authorDomain":"jdmiller82"}

Jonathan D. Miller

Yes.

{"commentId":1305646,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"jdmiller82"}

2 votes

#1.1 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:21 PM EST

{"commentId":1304682,"authorDomain":"janeway77"}

Michael the Great

If they rent videos for 5 days for $1.99, it will be a smashing success. If they rent them for $7.99 for 1 day, it will fail. It just doesn't make sense to "rent" a video for more than a couple of dollars when you can buy them all day long for around $10.

Example: Live Free or Die Hard (a new release), is available all over ebay for $9.00 with free shipping. Sure, they are used DVDs, but it's a digital product! It's not like its gonna wear out.

{"commentId":1304682,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"janeway77"}

1 vote

#2 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:11 AM EST

{"commentId":1305657,"authorDomain":"tcervo"}

gecko85

While I agree with what you're saying, I would be *very* wary of the abundant $9 (or less) DVD deals on eBay. Sure, some of them are legit, but many others have been known to be low quality bootlegs.

One of the best (reputable) sites I've found is DeepDiscount DVDs. Sign up for their mailing list to be alerted of special sales...that's where you can really score some good deals on new DVDs.

{"commentId":1305657,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"tcervo"}

1 vote

#2.1 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:24 PM EST

{"commentId":1305664,"authorDomain":"jdmiller82"}

Jonathan D. Miller

While its al speculative at this point, its safe to say that Apple knows its consumers pretty well. The pricing will be closer to your 5day $1.99 rental and not the $7.99 for a day.

My prediction is $0.99 for older movie rentals and $1.99 for new releases. And all would be kept between 2 and 3 days.

{"commentId":1305664,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"jdmiller82"}

2 votes

#2.2 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:27 PM EST

{"commentId":1304968,"authorDomain":"greglujan"}

greck

I'm guessing it'll be like Netflix does it.
you pay a fee and get a certain number of hours of download time per month.
Or maybe an "all you can eat" like Netflix

Whose player conspicuously doesn't work with Mac, so that part of my netflix is useless for me.

{"commentId":1304968,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"greglujan"}

1 vote

#3 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:50 AM EST

{"commentId":1304981,"authorDomain":"firefly233333"}

firefly-105658

Agreed, Good bye Blockbuster and Hollywood Video!

{"commentId":1304981,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"firefly233333"}

1 vote

#4 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:53 AM EST

{"commentId":1305352,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

Tedd Riggs

My guess is "Apple-Flix"

{"commentId":1305352,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

2 votes

#5 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:49 PM EST

{"commentId":1305392,"authorDomain":"greglujan"}

greck

is that a baked dish made with Struessel?

{"commentId":1305392,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"greglujan"}

3 votes

#5.1 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:59 PM EST

{"commentId":1305397,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

Tedd Riggs

Baked with a Bondi Blue dish, yes :-)

{"commentId":1305397,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

2 votes

#5.2 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:02 PM EST

{"commentId":1305428,"authorDomain":"janeway77"}

Michael the Great

My guess is "Apple-Flix"

My guess is iFlix

{"commentId":1305428,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"janeway77"}

2 votes

#5.3 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:10 PM EST

{"commentId":1305439,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

Tedd Riggs

I guess iFlix does sound a little better, OK you win....

{"commentId":1305439,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

2 votes

#5.4 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:13 PM EST

{"commentId":1305827,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}

Andy Min

My guess is that there won't BE a name. There'll just be a big announcement at MacWorld.

{"commentId":1305827,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}

2 votes

#5.5 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:22 PM EST

{"commentId":1305847,"authorDomain":"jdmiller82"}

Jonathan D. Miller

yeah. it will just be another product offering of the iTunes Store, and will use the existing mechanics in place.

{"commentId":1305847,"threadId":"194627","contentId":"1188487","authorDomain":"jdmiller82"}

2 votes

#5.6 - Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:28 PM EST

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"194627","isPrivate":false}

	Reports: Apple, Fox planning movie rental service	CNET News.com	Thu Dec 27	1
	Report: Apple inks online film-rental deal with News Corp's 20th Century Fox	macdailynews.com	Thu Dec 27	0

ANDY MIN

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Apple and 20th Century Fox strike digital movie rental deal

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