Apple set to offer latest films for rent on iTunes

Last updated at 08:48 03 January 2008


Apple and film studio Twentieth Century Fox are set to announce a deal that will allow consumers to rent movies through Apple's digital iTunes Store.

The agreement will allow rentals of Fox's latest DVD releases by downloading a copy from the online iTunes store for a limited time, the Financial Times said.

Apple hopes the deal, which could revolutionise the film rental industry, will bolster sales of video on its groundbreaking portable media format, which have lagged behind the growth in popularity of music downloads on iTunes.

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Walt Disney is currently the only movie studio selling its new releases on iTunes, but Apple is also believed to be in negotiations with Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Brothers.

"Fox and potentially other stidios are coming around to the idea that there is nobody out there to challenge iTunes," Jonathan Weitz from mobile media experts IBB Consulting told the FT.

Over the last couple of years users have started to watch their media in different places and different formats.

Apple may make the Fox deal public at the Macworld convention which is due to take place in San Francisco on January 14.

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