• Los Angeles Times, Thursday, October 13, 2011 12 AM

Apple has reportedly been meeting with movie studios to finalize deals that would let consumers buy movies through iTunes, and the access them on any Apple device via the cloud. “Apple is preparing to put movies in the cloud, entering a market in which it may be both competitor and ally to a similar offering backed by most Hollywood studios,” The Los Angeles Times reports.

That similar offering is Ultraviolet -- a multi-studio venture that promises to give consumers digital cloud copies of movies when they buy the DVD or Blu-ray disc first. Ultraviolet purchases via the Web, without discs, are expected to come by 2012. Why is so likely that Apple can twist the studios’ arms? As the LA Times notes, they’re eager to boost movie purchases, which have been flat amid an influx of less expensive video-on-demand and Netflix-like rental services.

“Sales of DVDs and digital downloads are still crucial to the studios' bottom line, as they are much more profitable than rentals,” the LA Times writes.

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