Disney, Apple Near TV Rental Deal

itunes

After months of looking to re-energize its iTunes business, Apple Inc. is nearing a "rental" deal for TV shows with the Walt Disney Co., according to reports.

For its iTunes service, Apple has been looking at offering 99-cent rentals of television episodes -- which is lower than the $1.99 fee currently paid by consumers to purchase individual episodes.

The effort would give more energy to Apple's slowing iTunes business, and would compete with free, ad-supported TV episodes and other growing video content on the Web.

Per reports, the agreements would give viewers a 48-hour window to view an electronic version of the show before the new television season starts in September. It could also help boost Apple's flagging Apple TV, the company's service/device that allows Internet video to be seen on traditional television sets.

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The current Apple TV service is a downloading video business for the purchasing of movie and television content. The new rental addition would be "streaming" video -- allowing for less use of server storage.

Many media companies, including CBS Corp., General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, News Corp., and Viacom Inc., are reportedly resisting Apple's plans -- given that the exclusive TV window would usurp their exclusive traditional broadcast and cable windows. Apple's argument, according to executives, could be that it will act as another marketing tool for TV networks.

A Wall Street Journal story says the new Apple service -- which might include a new device connected to television sets -- will start up next month.

1 comment about "Disney, Apple Near TV Rental Deal".
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  1. Roger Wilson from The Conference Department, Inc., August 26, 2010 at 12:48 p.m.

    An example of old-new media hybrids and the rise of Steve Jobs as a modern media mogul as Michael Wolff wrote about recently in Wired.

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