Found courtesy of the IV board: Murdoch in talks to sell 20th Century Fox movies via iTunes:

News Corp Hugging Apple: 20th Cent. Fox Films To iTunes
Peter Kafka | December 3, 2007 11:54 AM

News Corp.‘s (NWS) 20th Century Fox studio is talking with Apple (AAPL) about selling its movies through iTunes, reports Pali Capital’s Rich Greenfield (reg. required), who predicts a deal will be done early next year (perhaps in time for Macworld in January?).

So far only Disney has allowed Apple to sell its new movies at the same time its DVDs are released, while MGM, Viacom’s Paramount and Lionsgate (LGF) have partial deals. Hollywood has been wary of selling through Apple for several reasons: It’s worried about giving Steve Jobs too much control over their product (see: music business); it’s worried about pissing off Wal-Mart and other physical retailers, who don’t want to see digital copies sold for less than the discs they sell; and it’s been haggling over price.

[quote author=“Tommo_UK”]Found courtesy of the IV board: Murdoch in talks to sell 20th Century Fox movies via iTunes:

News Corp Hugging Apple: 20th Cent. Fox Films To iTunes
Peter Kafka | December 3, 2007 11:54 AM

News Corp.‘s (NWS) 20th Century Fox studio is talking with Apple (AAPL) about selling its movies through iTunes, reports Pali Capital’s Rich Greenfield (reg. required), who predicts a deal will be done early next year (perhaps in time for Macworld in January?).

So far only Disney has allowed Apple to sell its new movies at the same time its DVDs are released, while MGM, Viacom’s Paramount and Lionsgate (LGF) have partial deals. Hollywood has been wary of selling through Apple for several reasons: It’s worried about giving Steve Jobs too much control over their product (see: music business); it’s worried about pissing off Wal-Mart and other physical retailers, who don’t want to see digital copies sold for less than the discs they sell; and it’s been haggling over price.

Well, if they keep the same price as a DVD, I won’t buy any more movies period. I’m more inclined to rent digitally than to buy them.

C’mon AAPL, give us the aTV movie rentals already!

HAB

Apropos my above post, this in:

More interestingly perhaps, the studios are hoping to create “premium” versions of DVDs that include a copy of the movie that can easily be put on an iPod (and presumably a laptop with iTunes or an Apple TV). Fox has tried this already, with a version of “Die Hard 4″ that includes a digital copy. Mr. Greenfield writes that this version costs $3 or $4 more than an ordinary DVD.

Greed greed greed! This morons really think people will pay $4 extra so they can play the movie they just fcuking paid for on their iPod?? I would not pay a single cent more for a DVD which included an “iPod ready” copy. Why the hell should I? It should be part and parcel of the DVD I bought, not an expensive extra.

What planet are these idiots on? Moronic! It just shows where they are mentally.. still stuck in a world in which they think movies take 3-days to download off filesharing sites instead of 40 minutes, and DVD-RIPping applications weren’t available. In other words, 2001.

With this crap getting in the way of negotiations, it isn’t any surprise more studios haven’t signed up to iTunes. They’re still trying to RIPoff their customers. Is it any surprise their customers are RIPping their DVDs or just getting what they want off Bittorrent?

Sad, and pathetic.

I still look at this news as good news.

The fact (hopefully) that one more studio is about to come on board is a good thing.

They will iron out their differences and pricing I don’t see as a big issue.  My concern is quality. 

If I can get a HD movie for $15 or rent it for $4.5 that is fine with me.  It will save me the trip to Walmart where I have fight for a parking spot, wait in line with the masses, and still cough up $20 for a new release.

I would rent a movie in a heart beat for close to $5.  It beats waiting in those long lines at Blockbuster, and I can make the popcorn and open up the wine while the movie downloads.

“Another Brick In the Wall” with Fox. I like Sponge’s popcorn and rental but I can’t make up my mind on the wine with popcorn, red or white?

[quote author=“danthemason”]“Another Brick In the Wall” with Fox. I like Sponge’s popcorn and rental but I can’t make up my mind on the wine with popcorn, red or white?

Red of course, with a little cheese

My TV with my 50’ flat screen is one awesome combination right now. I listen to my music, view pictures, and home videos.

Buying DVDs with the click of a button and renting them would be icing on the cake for me.

I don’t mind paying the same price as Walmart as long as I keep it and I am able to burn it or just back it up on TimeMachine

[quote author=“omacvi”]I would rent a movie in a heart beat for close to $5.  It beats waiting in those long lines at Blockbuster, and I can make the popcorn and open up the wine while the movie downloads.

Gotta big screen HDTV? Let’s host the next party at your place! 

I prefer red wine. 

[quote author=“DawnTreader”][quote author=“omacvi”]I would rent a movie in a heart beat for close to $5.  It beats waiting in those long lines at Blockbuster, and I can make the popcorn and open up the wine while the movie downloads.

Gotta big screen HDTV? Let’s host the next party at your place! 

I prefer red wine. 

My wife would kill me if I invite a bunch of Mac nerds to my house

Let’s get together in SF next month

I am planning on flying up that week for a quick flight since I do need to be back by Friday

We can all check out the demo of the newest apple TV rental system

Posting from iPhone

[quote author=“omacvi”][quote author=“DawnTreader”][quote author=“omacvi”]I would rent a movie in a heart beat for close to $5.  It beats waiting in those long lines at Blockbuster, and I can make the popcorn and open up the wine while the movie downloads.

Gotta big screen HDTV? Let’s host the next party at your place! 

I prefer red wine. 

My wife would kill me if I invite a bunch of Mac nerds to my house

Let’s get together in SF next month

I am planning on flying up that week for a quick flight since I do need to be back by Friday

We can all check out the demo of the newest apple TV rental system

Aw, c’mon. Mac nerds are cool. She married one, right? 

Seriously…I’m going to miss the big show this year. Too many major projects at work. Perhaps next year we can all gather for a big AFB activity in SF.

[quote author=“DawnTreader”][

Gotta big screen HDTV? Let’s host the next party at your place! 

I prefer red wine. 

My wife would kill me if I invite a bunch of Mac nerds to my house

Let’s get together in SF next month

I am planning on flying up that week for a quick flight since I do need to be back by Friday

We can all check out the demo of the newest apple TV rental system

Aw, c’mon. Mac nerds are cool. She married one, right? 

Seriously…I’m going to miss the big show this year. Too many major projects at work. Perhaps next year we can all gather for a big AFB activity in SF.

I am a very good looking Mac nerd, and she can only handle one at a time.

SF is hard for me as well.  We plan on being in Carmel the weekend before and my wife is making me run another half marathon the following week.  I have a ton of work, and a friend wants me to fly up to Seattle the first week in Jan as well.

I just think that this year Macworld will be a bigger deal then prior years.  Part of the reason is AppleTV and some other new product.

But if we have to wait one more year to all get together that is fine by me. :o

[quote author=“DawnTreader”][quote author=“omacvi”]I would rent a movie in a heart beat for close to $5.  It beats waiting in those long lines at Blockbuster, and I can make the popcorn and open up the wine while the movie downloads.

Gotta big screen HDTV? Let’s host the next party at your place! 

I prefer red wine. 

If you go for big, My screen is 2m35 by 1m35. Dunno how much inch it counts for, but even my picture in picture is bigger then most tv’s

And I prefer white wine

should apple tv play more nice with divx and dvd’s in iso and watch live tv, I would switch to apple tv to controll it. Now I use mythTV. Yet I’ll switch to media portal (under windows but also opensource) since I’ll also get a satelite dish so at least I have some programs in hdtv.

Interview with Zucker about the NBC and digital downloads. It really exposes the guy for the fool he is: arrogant, short-sighted, stupid, and suffering from an over-inflated idea of his own and his network’s importance. The guy makes me want to puke - he represents everything that’s wrong with the industry.

He’s the Michael Eisner of television.

link to article

OT - for UK satellite dish owners

Here’s something that will wipe out the $1000 a year I’ve been paying to Murdoch for his full Sky package, especially in view of next spring’s new Freessat in the UK.

The latest EyeTV 2.5.1 supports Terratec Cinergy S USB satellite decoder. I’ve just set it up on my old powerbook 12”, and the big surprise is it’s displaying BBC HD (DVB-S2), although the powerbook isn’t quite keeping up with the data rate.

This sheds more light on the greedy studios.

http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/071204/1_317560_id.html?.v=1

We are close, but SJ will get a really good deal for the real folks like us

[quote author=“omacvi”]This sheds more light on the greedy studios.

http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/071204/1_317560_id.html?.v=1

We are close, but SJ will get a really good deal for the real folks like us

The studios have no choice. All the saber rattling and testosterone-pumped talk won’t and can’t change market realities. Ultimately iTunes will get the goods.

A few things about the article linked above:

Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns *may* have said something to the reporter to corroborate reports from Pali analyst Richard Greenfield that movie downloads and rentals are imminent in early 2008 and that waiting until early 2008 prevents any impact to the all-important holiday DVD selling season. Hard to tell from the language used, but where there’s smoke there may be fire—and there’s some smoke in that first paragraph.

Also, Lionsgate gets $18 of every $20 DVD Wal-Mart sells? And Lionsgate nets $16? Amazing.

Burns implies that Lionsgate will hop on board iTunes with its current catalog—for both buys and rentals—if Apple charges more than what they currently do for Disney movies. In other words, Lionsgate won’t sell to iTunes for less than what they sell to Wal-Mart. I find real irony in this situation—think about it: Apple, which is historically perceived as a company offering expensive/overpriced products, is being pressured by Burns and other movie studios to stop charging the consumer so little and instead raise its prices.

On the whole, this piece is encouraging. Maybe AppleTV will grow some legs in early 2008, after all.