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NewTeeVee —
... Licensing Deals Remove Movies from Next-Gen Services; studios pulling movies like Charlie Wilson’s War from iTunes and Netflix streaming because of release window issues. (CNET) ...
TV deals causing movies to disappear from iTunes Store
AppleInsider —
... purchase or rental. There was also no sign of them anywhere on the store. For the most part, the releases were fairly new titles, such as Atonement, Charlie Wilsons War, Eastern Promises, and Michael Clayton . Essentially, they're movies that were released in theaters last year, have since made their way to DVD, and are now in line to turn up on pay-per-view and premium television stations. What's happening, CNet News.com explains in a new report, is that Apple and Netflix are being affected by "release windows," an industry term used to describe a period of time in ...
Hollywood is pulling movies from iTunes so my grandma can watch her movie of the week
VentureBeat —
... And it’s not just iTunes, Netflix’s streaming video service “Watch Instantly” is also suffering from this vanishing movie syndrome thanks to the same licensing deals. Spokespeople from both Apple and Netflix have confirmed this information with CNET’s Greg Sandoval. ...
TV killed the iTunes Star
9 to 5 Mac - Apple Intelligence —
(sorry about the title)
The mystery of the missing iTunes Movies has been solved by Greg Sandoval at C|Net. "Release Windows"
"Release windows" is the term used to describe periods of time a certain type of media is allowed to show a movie. Typically, a feature film is first released in theaters, then on DVD, followed by pay-per-view channels and finally on broadcast TV.
Normally, release windows don't affect retailers or video-rental services after they've begun selling or renting films. Warner ...
Disappearing iTunes Store movies: case closed?
Infinite Loop —
... rent or buy the films. The first thought was that Apple had simply moved the movies from the section of the store that the users had "bookmarked," but this later proved to be untrue. The movies were just gone. Needless to say, people were confused and aggravated. Speculation arose that it was some sort of licensing issue, even though the movies weren't all from the same studio. (Licensing issues tend to be a good bet whenever things like this happen.) The folks at CNet managed to get confirmations out of spokespeople from both Netflix where users are having similar issues ...
TV Deals Force Studios To Pull Movies From Netflix, iTunes
paidContent —
... CNET explains that the conflict stems from "release windows," or the long-standing agreements between movie studios and the TV industry that dictate the length of time a film can be shown on a particular medium. The cycle typically goes from theater, to DVD, to VOD and pay-per-view (and increasingly alternatives like hotels and airplanes) before finally winding up on broadcast TV. These deals bring in a considerable amount of revenue for the studios—in amounts that dwarf the cut they get from Apple or Netflix—so if the download services are cutting into a ...
Daily Apple: Gift Cards x 1,000,000, Netbooks Make Elbow Room, iPhone #3 Gadget, Multi-touch Firefox, Movies Disappear, Firmware Fixes [TheAppleBlog]
GigaOM Network —
... That Movie You’re Putting Off Buying on iTunes May Not Be There Tomorrow - TV apparently has the right to kill movie distribution rights on iTunes. Basically, it comes down to release windows, which traditionally apply to broadcasters, not retailers, but since digital distribution is threatening TV’s livelihood, they’re counting them as competition. ...
Studios throw the kill switch on Apple and Netflix
The Apple Core —
... Macworld’s Dan Moren noticed that of 15 films he bookmarked for future viewing in iTunes, nine were no longer available, including Charlie Wilson’s War , Eastern Promises , and Michael Clayton . One would presume that there is some sort of licensing issue at stake here… But it’s a little odd that these movies just vanished into thin air. Man, it’s like a bad horror movie. CNet’s Greg Sandoval confirmed that Apple and Netflix have had to remove movie titles from their digital download services because of licensing requirements, specifically ...
Movies Disappear at iTunes and Netflix Thanks to TV
I4U News —
... buys rights to a film and says it doesnt want iTunes or Netflix offering streaming rentals of the films, which is what happens. As long as iTunes and Netflix arent making a significant profit for studios, this will be how it is. The real rub is that as long as streaming services dont have enough films to make them attractive to watchers, they can't get more popular and bring in more revenue. This all looks like a way to limit the growth of streaming rental services to me. Via CNET News Posted on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun ...
Solved: Hollywood Behind Vanishing iTunes Movies
Cult of Mac —
... CNET now reports Hollywood enforced its “release window” against iTunes and Netflix, an action that had some iTunes users scratching their heads as “Michael Clayton”, “Atonement”, “Charlie Wilson’s War” and other flicks mysteriously vanished from shopping carts. ...
TV exclusives taking movies off of iTunes?
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) —
... from iTunes or Netflix lately? The reason could be television, says CNET -- apparently a slew of movies on iTunes and Netflix's streaming service have recently fallen prey to television exclusive agreements. With the onset of Apple TV and ...
Reminder To Big Media: Pulling Shows Off Hulu Boosts Piracy
Silicon Alley Insider —
... We don't know specifically why FX asked Hulu to pull "Sunny." But we assume -- like recent Apple (AAPL) iTunes and Netflix (NFLX) streaming movie removals -- that it has to do with the fact that offline revenues from DVD sales, rentals, TV syndication, etc. are still more important to media companies than the tiny trickle of ad revenue they get from sites like Hulu. ...
Reminder To Big Media: Screwing With Hulu Boosting Piracy, Not Just DVD Sales
Silicon Alley Insider —
... We don't know specifically why FX asked Hulu to pull "Sunny." But we assume -- like recent Apple (AAPL) iTunes and Netflix (NFLX) streaming movie removals -- that it has to do with the fact that offline revenues from DVD sales, rentals, TV syndication, etc. are still more important to media companies than the tiny trickle of ad revenue they get from sites like Hulu. ...
