FT: Fox, Apple sign movie rental deal
In a breakthrough agreement, another major movie studio will add its feature films to the iTunes lineup, but this time under unusual and potentially groundbreaking terms.
According to the Financial Times, sources are indicating that in order to secure 20th Century-Fox's wide range of feature films for Apple's iTunes service, the Cupertino company has apparently agreed to a rental model.
As the report indicated, users will be able to download the movies, and will then be given a set time to view them before they expire. The announcement is expected during the Macworld conference in January.
So far, Apple has only been able to convince Walt Disney and its associated studios to sell their new movies through iTunes. Other studios have been less cooperative, many taking issue with the company's insistence -- until now -- of purchase-only downloads and its pricing structure.
Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate also sell movies on iTunes, however these only include their older releases.
DRM will still be the name of the game, as Apple's FairPlay will protect Fox's content. However, it is unclear whether the company would need to change the technology to allow it to support rentals, or if Apple had already been prepared for this eventuality.
Also for the first time, FairPlay would make its appearance outside of an Apple product, being included with a digital file on movie discs that users would be able to rip for mobile viewing on the iPod and iPhone.
News of this latest move by Apple excited investors, briefly pushing the stock above $200 Wednesday. In midday Thursday trading, the stock again was up 1.4%, trading at about $202.
Looks like Steve Jobs is ready to accept a subscription-like download model after all.