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Apple Working to Add Movies to iCloud

Wednesday October 12, 2011 8:52 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
The LATimes and Wall Street Journal are both reporting that Apple is working to finalize deals with major movie studios that would allow iTunes customers to stream purchased movies to their devices.
Apple Inc. is negotiating with Hollywood studios for deals that would let people who buy movies from the iTunes Store watch streaming versions of those movies on Apple devices such as iPads or iPhones without manually transferring them, according to people familiar with the matter.
With the launch of iCloud and associated services, Apple has started allowing iTunes customers to freely redownload both music and TV shows to any of their devices.

Even in the weeks leading up to the original iCloud announcement, we'd heard reports that Apple had been in deep negotiations with movie studios to provide just that sort of service. One of the hurdles at the time was reported to be the special exclusivity deals that the studios have with HBO. Those agreements would prevent the sale or distribution of movies while they were being aired on HBO. It's not clear how that conflict will be resolved.

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cshearer
97 months ago

Can someone explain to me why Apple needs agreements with the production companies to stream movies from their servers to users who have purchased the content? Once purchased, is it not the user's right to consume the media however s/he wants, whether the file is stored locally or remotely and streamed?


This would definitely be awesome. I too would buy more movies from iTunes if this happened.


Royalty laws. And I'm not talking crowns here. Apple's licensing agreement with the aforementioned studios may limit the number of times a certain person is allowed to download a particular movie, or what devices they can view it on. They could also restrict the manner in which it's transmitted. I will admit that I'm only guessing here, but some sort of "fine print" type deal is probably the reason. I do agree that it's ridiculous though, but if you want to point the finger somewhere, point it firmly in the direction of royalties and copyrights.
Rating: 4 Votes
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klittle32
97 months ago
Can someone explain to me why Apple needs agreements with the production companies to stream movies from their servers to users who have purchased the content? Once purchased, is it not the user's right to consume the media however s/he wants, whether the file is stored locally or remotely and streamed?
Rating: 4 Votes
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Thanatoast
97 months ago
This should not even be an issue. It's patently ridiculous that the studios even have the right to not allow this.
Rating: 4 Votes
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exhibit.b
97 months ago
I would actually buy movies from itunes if this happened.
Rating: 3 Votes
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ravenvii
97 months ago
Streaming would be cool and all, but I would be perfectly happy with being able to re-download movies like I can re-download apps, music and TV shows. That provides a *great* peace of mind in event of data loss.
Rating: 3 Votes
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OrangeSVTguy
97 months ago
Now we really need the unlimited data plans back instead of this tiered bs!
Rating: 3 Votes
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cshearer
97 months ago

A little TOO ambitious! Get my phone working first - sheesh! iMessages don't work, auto-synching doesn't work. (with power)

Those things have all been working for me since beta 4? Pleased to meet you chief strategist of Apple, Inc. :rolleyes:
Rating: 3 Votes
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psac
97 months ago
I just like that a Pixar movie was used for the screenshot. :apple:

Edit: Tangled is actually Disney, not Pixar. Close enough. :)
Rating: 1 Votes
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joemama
97 months ago
It's ridiculous. If I buy a DVD movie, I can watch it as many times as I want on multiple DVD players and not pay a penny more. The actors get a cut of the initial sale, NOT the for every time I watch it.

It should be no different if I download a movie to my computer, phone, Apple TV, etc.

Apple should just do it and tell the studios we'll see you in court. THink about when the VCR came out, and then Tivo. The studio took these companies to court and guess who won? The consumer.

It's a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.
Rating: 1 Votes
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ed724
97 months ago

Streaming would be cool and all, but I would be perfectly happy with being able to re-download movies like I can re-download apps, music and TV shows. That provides a *great* peace of mind in event of data loss.


Uh, you can re-download movies you have purchased in the event of data loss.
I did it when my appleTV (1st gen) needed a new HD.
Rating: 1 Votes

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