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Apple cancels iTunes TV rentals

Erica Ogg — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:40:12 +0000

Despite its role as a major selling point of the revamped Apple TV last fall, Apple has done away with TV show rentals. Several bloggers noticed the option to rent individual episodes missing from iTunes and Apple TV Friday, and Apple later confirmed the decision was based on lack of interest.

“iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD Friday. “iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose.”

Very few TV studios were on board with the idea in the first place–only Fox and ABC–so this isn’t a huge change. But now the only option in iTunes when it comes to TV shows is to buy. You can buy a full season or “Season Pass,” or if you want to cherry pick a season, you can still buy individual episodes.

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Rumor: Apple iTV Event Sept. 7 (UPDATE: Confirmed for Sept. 1)

Charles Jade — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:00:49 +0000

UPDATE: Apple has sent out press invitations for a music themed event for Sept. 1. Historically, Apple has used the September event to launch new versions of its iPod line.

Bloomberg is now reporting the next generation Apple TV, rumored to be renamed the iTV, will be unveiled at the annually anticipated Apple event next month.

The event, which will supposedly take place on Sept. 7, will likely also launch the new iPod touch, which is rumored to have a Retina Display like the iPhone 4. Cameras and FaceTime support are also very likely. However, it’s the new Apple TV and associated content that is the focus of the latest rumor.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is in advanced talks with ABC, CBS, and FOX, as well as Time Warner, but possibly not NBC, to bring $0.99 rentals of television shows to the iTunes Store, something first unearthed by NewTeeVee a few weeks ago. Television shows would be available for rental within 24 hours of air date, and, similar to movie rentals, consumers would have 48 hours to finish viewing once started.

While a $0.99 rental is significantly less than buying an episode for $1.99 or $2.99, it appears that Apple has now abandoned ambitious plans for a subscription-based model for video at $30 a month.

As for the Apple TV — or possibly the iTV — it’s said to be getting both a price drop to $99 from $229, as well as an unspecified reduction in hard drive size. The emphasis would now be on streaming content, and that could be in keeping with rumors of Apple offering a cloud-based video-on-demand service.

It will be four years ago next month that Steve Jobs declared “Apple is in your living room” with the unveiling of what was then called the iTV. That became the Apple TV when it launched in 2007, followed by the “Take Two” relaunch in 2008.

To date, Apple has never released sales numbers for the Apple TV, and in 2008, Steve Jobs admitted to Fortune that the device, as well as every other set-top box had failed “– everybody’s tried. And everybody’s failed. We failed, so far.” It was at that time Jobs declared the Apple TV to be a “hobby” for Apple.

Unfortunately, that’s not likely to change if this latest iteration of the Apple TV turns out to be real. Simply lowering the price of television rentals and the device itself isn’t enough. The average show of 20 or so episodes would cost $25 a year, assuming no season pass discount. If you watch more than a few shows, cable television is still a better deal.

In order for the Apple TV, or iTV, to succeed it must transition from being an iTunes Store kiosk in the living room to an entertainment portal. That means allowing access to Netflix, Boxee and other video services. It also means a few simple games and apps, possibly using an iPhone or an iPod touch as a controller.

Whether this will be a re-imagining of Apple’s set-top box is clearly up to Apple, but based upon past releases the rumored iTV is looking like another rerun.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Three Reasons Over The Top TV Apps Will Beat Big Cable

TV, YouTube and iTunes: Change in the Wind

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:24:27 +0000

Would you buy a show on iTunes that you could stream at any time to YouTube? The way that most people answer that question could be crucial to the fortunes of both Apple and Google in the coming months. Google is apparently following up on its plan to offer streamed movie releases for rent with another to do essentially the same thing for current television shows.

As Ryan at NewTeeVee reports, Google is in the process of convincing the TV industry to allow it to stream the kind of new, copyright-protected content that now gets pulled down for a reasonable fee, say multiple sources close to the issue.

Streaming vs. Downloading

The idea would be to do what iTunes already does, which is offer commercial-free first-run TV shows to users for the price of around $1.99 per episode, on or around the first day of their airing. The difference, of course, would be that unlike Amazon and Apple’s download-and-watch services, YouTube would be sticking to its existing streaming video formula, so users couldn’t keep the files on their computers for later viewing. There’s no official word on whether or not users would be able to go back and stream shows after the initial viewing, but I doubt TV content providers would agree to such terms.

YouTube execs think that isn’t necessarily a game-ender, but they acknowledge that it is a problem:

Executives at YouTube and TV insist that the disparity is simply a perception problem and cite studies showing that most people who download TV episodes only watch them once, anyway. But that’s a tough sell.

I know I’d rather have something I can store and potentially rewatch, even if I never actually do. A lifetime subscription arrangement might make me more comfortable, but the opportunities for misuse on the consumer side are too great for the television industry to take that risk.

YouTube Mobile Support

The key factor in whether or not YouTube’s TV efforts will be successful, though, lies not with the way it delivers the content, but the places it delivers said content to. YouTube is accessible on any number of platforms and devices, including computers, Blu-Ray players, video game consoles, televisions, and cell phones.

If mobile content usage trends are any indication, the last delivery route will be the most significant going forward. If YouTube TV rentals extend to YouTube’s mobile apps on Android and iPhone devices, I foresee users more than willing to accept the trade-off of not having any downloaded content in exchange for quick and easy instant accessibility anywhere they have a data connection.

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You Rent From YouTube?

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:00:50 +0000

Oh Apple TV, will you ever cease to have new competitors arise to elbow into your already paltry market share? Internet video giant YouTube wants to be next in line. The company is in talks with Sony and other major studios about offering newer movies as streaming rentals on the site.

YouTube already offers many older shows and movies for free on the site, presumably because they’ve either become public domain properties, or because studios don’t think it’s worth protecting their rebroadcast rights.

According to the Wall Street Journal, if talks are successful, the list of movies available via YouTube could grow to include new and recent releases from Sony, Lions Gate, and Warner Bros. There’s even some discussion of making movies available as early as their official DVD/Blu-Ray release date.

Not all movies would necessarily carry a rental fee, according to the report. Depending on the studio and the film, some titles may be available free of charge, supported instead by advertising revenue. The going rate for other movies will likely be around $3.99 (for standard definition, according to NewTeeVee’s estimates), which is the cost of most new release iTunes movie rentals. Whether users could also optionally download movies from YouTube is another point up for discussion.

This should be setting off warning alarms at Apple, unless it already has a very impressive plan in place for the revamp and revitalization of Apple TV. iTunes movie rentals are great, so long as you have an HTPC or an Apple TV, but the minute you can get fresh, new content cheaply via YouTube, expect Apple TV’s growth potential to plummet. YouTube is available via many more internet connected AV devices than iTunes, and it’s a site that most internet users are likely already using and comfortable with.

Ultimately YouTube suffers in comparison to iTunes for a couple reasons. First, you probably won’t be able to download all titles with YouTube rentals, especially at launch. That frightens away potential customers who might not have the best internet connection available, and so avoid streaming content. Even computer power is an issue with streaming. My 12-inch Powerbook G4 can’t handle YouTube nearly as well as it can downloaded movie files.

You also won’t likely be able to take the file with you on portable devices, or at least not without incurring data fees. The beauty of iTunes is that your downloads are accessible by so many devices out of the box. But, that advantage depends on you already being an Apple customer.

In the end, if YouTube does go this route, Apple will likely have to shake things up to stay truly competitive. Renting via YouTube would just make things too easy, especially now that some TVs have YouTube browsing built-in. Apple TV always needed a shakeup. Hopefully this just lights a fire under Cupertino.

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Apple Bringing Video Purchasing/Downloads to the iPhone

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:00:46 +0000

I dream of the day when my iPhone’s sync cable lies dusty and neglected in the back of a cabinet somewhere, and that day is getting closer and closer, thanks to iPhone OS 3.0. Yet another new feature discovered last week suggests that iPhone owners will have one less reason to connect and sync their devices come June. The feature in question is the ability to buy and download video content via iTunes.

The discovery came via “leaked” official Apple ad spots in the app Twitterfon (although I have trouble believing Apple would inadvertently be this sloppy) for iTunes TV, iTunes Movies, and iTunes Movie Rentals.

According to Twitter users, the source of the news, and commenters on this post, tapping on the ads redirected users with iPhone OS 3.0 installed on their phone to a previously unknown subsection of the built-in iTunes app, where movies and TV shows are listed. Movie links aren’t active yet, but it otherwise seems to be nearly ready for public consumption.

A variety of screenshots are available, thanks to the post by blogger KwameJones, and one commenter posted a link to the store that would work when accessed using an iPhone running OS 3.0, but the link has since ceased to be active. Lists of shows and movies with polished artwork include very recent titles like “Kings” and “The Wrestler”, which would indicate that Apple is indeed prepping this for a June launch, rather than just beta testing an early build of a video store to be added much later.

At this point, nothing is known about pricing, conditions of rental/purchase, or interaction/syncing with your iTunes library on your computer, but I’d love some sort of Kindle-like function that allows you to pick up watching video where you left off regardless of what platform you use to view it. Since this wasn’t announced at the iPhone 3.0 announcement event, I’m also guessing it’s a recent addition, possibly in answer to Microsoft’s upcoming “xYz” device, which is said to have similar features.

After the recent news that the Slingplayer app for iPhone would only be able to stream over Wi-Fi, I think it’s probably safe to assume that video downloads won’t be allowed over a 3G connection. On the other hand, it is possible that the only reason Apple imposed the Slingplayer restriction to begin with was to make this upcoming service a more appealing choice to iPhone users. If it did offer downloading regardless of connection type, and maybe even streaming content once you’ve begun your download, I think the customer response would be overwhelmingly positive.

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iTunes Movie Rentals Available Today

Josh Pigford — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:47:49 +0000

The much rumored iTunes Movie Rental service is indeed becoming a reality…today!

Today Steve Jobs announced that every major studio is on board: Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony.

Initially there will be over 1000 movies and in general movie rentals will be available 30 days after DVD release.

It will cost $2.99 for “library titles” (movies that are not new releases) and $3.99 for new releases. HD rentals will be $3.99 for library titles and $4.99 for new releases (only 100 titles available today in HD). You will have 30 days to start watching the movie after purchase and 24 hours to finish it once you have started.

Movies can be viewed on Mac or PC as well as on all current iPods and the iPhone. Movies will be streaming…meaning you don’t have to wait and download the full movie…you can begin watching instantly.

Available today in the US. Available internationally later this year.

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