The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) claims that CEO Steve Jobs may announce today the availability of Paramount Pictures' catalog, which includes titles such as "Forrest Gump," "Mission: Impossible," and "Star Trek." However, it does not appear as though new releases would be included in the deal (yet).
Paramount decided that by only providing catalog titles, which will be sold at $9.99, it would get most of the benefit from the download service and less of the hassle from retailers, say people familiar with the situation. They reasoned that catalog titles will provide more revenue than new releases.
The deal is an important step for Paramount's parent company Viacom, which came under attack last year for its lack of digital vision.
Update: Steve Jobs has announced during his keynote that Paramount's catalog is indeed being added to the iTunes Store.
