M+E Daily
Licensing Issues Keep Two Studios Off iCloud; Will Apple’s System Compete or Coexist With UltraViolet?
Story Highlights
Licensing deals between two major studios and HBO are keeping certain movies off Apple’s new iCloud service — at least for now.
Apple unveiled iCloud for movies — which lets consumers access their iTunes movie purchases from multiple digital devices — as part of the company’s Apple TV update on Wednesday. Apple TV will now offer movies and other video programming in 1080p resolution; in addition, through a deal between Apple and Netflix, Apple TV users can sign up for Netflix’s subscription streaming service directly through the device.
But iTunes movies from Fox and Universal are currently unavailable for storage in iCloud, because the studios had previously granted HBO an exclusive digital distribution window, All Things Digital reports.
HBO’s distribution licenses with studios had similarly threatened the launch of UltraViolet movies last fall, until the Time Warner-owned company renegotiated terms with Fox and Universal, as well as Warner Bros. (via CNET). It remains unclear whether studios are also having to renegotiate distribution windows in preparation for “disc-to-digital” initiatives, whereby they are expected to unlock cloud-based digital rights for consumers’ DVD and Blu-ray libraries.
In any event, an HBO spokesman hints that studios soon will be able to resolve any catalog disparity between iTunes and UltraViolet. “With every technological enhancement, we have always been able to find common ground with our studio partners, and we’re sure that will be the result here,” HBO’s Jeff Cusson tells All Things Digital.
What’s still up in the air is whether Apple TV + iCloud will compete with UltraViolet — i.e., for exclusive content — or whether Apple’s platform will simply coexist with the studio-backed system. The availability of movies from Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, and Warner on iCloud suggests that studios are looking to grow the digital sell-through business in general, rather than hang their hopes on a single system in particular (such as UltraViolet or Disney’s Keychest), as the Los Angeles Times reports.
Several studios are expected to stand alongside Walmart next week at a press conference announcing a new retail push for UltraViolet, although Disney is not expected to be among them.
