According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, two more Hollywood movie studios have been rumored to join The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) in selling feature films via Apple's iTunes Movie Store. Although Munster did not name the studios, he claimed to have met with four of the six major studio executives, two of which planned to ink a download deal with Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
It seems as if they were waiting to see how Disney fared, especially in the area of piracy protection, but also to see if consumers caught on. Disney's recent public projections of to sell over "$50 million" worth of digital movie downloads in its first year partnered with Apple may have paved the way for the prospect of other studios.
These figures are likely to rise over the next couple years, especially with the release of iTV, which will allow consumers to watch these downloaded movies not only on their computers, but the television.
One other concern that is making studios hesitate before inking a deal with Apple is the cannibalizing effect on DVD sales. Isn't that what they said about VHS tape sales when DVDs were rising in popularity?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-10-2006 @ 1:05PM
Gary E. Sattler said...
So let me get this straight:
Disney (Meg Whitman) via Apple
Venice, via eBay (Meg Whitman) via Skype.
No confusing contradictions here!