Well, hello there, Fox—pleasure to see you again. According to reports in the Financial Times and elsewhere, Fox and Apple have struck a deal for movie rentals on the iTunes Store. Details on the situation are scarce, but it seems that this will allow for downloaded copies of movies that can be played for a limited time only. The Financial Times also suggests that Apple will let Fox provide FairPlay-encoded video files on new DVD releases. Of course, there’s been no comment from either Fox or Apple on the subject, so I’d expect to see it announced at Macworld Expo.
Could this reverse Apple’s fortunes on video? Movies haven’t sold particularly well on the iTunes Store, in large part due to their high cost compared to DVD releases and limited selection. As we’ve discussed before, people consume video far differently than they consume music. Rentals make far more sense for video than downloads; you don’t have to worry about storage space, and people don’t usually repeatedly view videos.
We’ve been hearing about video rentals coming to iTunes for some time now, and it looks like we don’t have much longer to wait. Now, it’s a matter of waiting to see if the other studios jump on board.
