Apple Is In Talks With Hollywood For Early Access To Movies On iTunes: Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)

Apple is talking with Hollywood studios to try and get iTunes rentals of movies that are still playing on the big screen. According to a report from Bloomberg, "some studio executives have been pushing to allow home rentals as early as two weeks after theatrical debuts and are considering a deal with iTunes as one option." Bloomberg reports: The most recent talks are part of longer-running efforts by Cupertino, California-based Apple to get new movies sooner, two of the people said. Such an arrangement could help iTunes stand out in a crowded online market for movies, TV shows and music. While the iTunes store helped Apple build a dominant role in music retailing, the company hasn't carved out a similar role in music and video streaming. Hollywood studios typically give theaters exclusive rights to new movies for 90 days or more before issuing them on DVD or making them available for online purchase. One of the concerns about iTunes is whether it will be a secure platform for delivering movies that are still in theaters, the people said. While Apple encrypts iTunes video files so they can't easily be duplicated, it's possible to use a camera to record a movie playing on a TV screen. A leak of picture that's still in theaters would jeopardize returns for the studios and cinema owners.

Comments

Why notSimultaneous release toTheaters and iTunes?

[GPS Pilot]

I'm not, of course, talking about an iTunes rental price that remains constant.

It would have to be a price that starts out extremely high -- high enough to more than offset the losses resulting from decreased theater attendance and piracy -- then decays exponentially, asymptotically approaching what one currently pays for an iTunes rental.

The studios would definitely be leaving money on the table by saying no to this idea.

The fun part for financial geeks would be to figure out the decay constant that would maximize revenue for a particular title. The rental price for a movie like Titanic, which played in theaters for months, should decay much more slowly than for a movie like Ishtar.