Informal Brain

AppleInsider | TV deals causing movies to disappear from iTunes Store.

Chalk this mystery up with the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis as ones we thought would never be explained, but today it looks like we have an answer.

I have been wondering for months why movie rentals suddenly disappear from the iTunes music store and now I have the strange, and depressing answer.  More strange control issues by the TV and Movie industry.  So, in my case where I don’t have cable or premium movie channels the fact that the movies disappear actually means that the TV networks loose money?!  Umm, the guys that come up with these deals are really confused.

Louis Gray published this great idea tonight…

The movie theater industry has already lost me as a customer, for the most part. But they can get some of my revenue back if they strike a deal with Apple, and make new releases available on iTunes the day they debut in the theater.

I propose the following pricing for a 24-hour new movie rental:
$9.99 for viewing in the first two weeks.
$7.99 for viewing in weeks three through six.
$5.99 for viewing in weeks six through twelve.
Standard iTunes pricing for all weeks afterward.

[From louisgray.com: Think Apple Would Dare To Take On the Movie Theaters?]

I was thinking of this exact solution the other night as I was sitting there thinking “how can I see Iron Man”, when I have two small kids to take care of. I suspect if the movie studios could cut a deal to create a model where theater releases were priced at roughly the same cost as 2 people going to a movie (perhaps more then the 9.99 suggested by Louis), then they would still get the same kind of revenue but give the consumer choice.

As I mentioned I suspect the first 2 week cost could be even more. Maybe $16 even. Movie tickets now cost in the $8 range each. New releases would typically be watched by two members of a family so perhaps $18 is not outrageous. Maybe at that cost there is an option to apply your new release rental charge to a DVD purchase when it gets released.