The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Apple is in talks with the Hollywood studios to make new movies available for rental for its iTunes service, according to two studio executives familiar with the matter.
This is not the first time video rentals have been rumored for iTunes. At the shareholders’ meeting in May, Apple referred to the possibility of offering video rentals through the iTunes Store in the future.
The rental service is being pitched aggressively by Apple, with titles renting for $2.99 for a set number of days before expiring, these people said. It is unclear which studios might participate, with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures currently in favor and General Electric’s Universal Studios Inc. currently opposed, for example. The service is far from a certainty with several details to iron out, said one person close to the situation.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has mentioned that the timing of this is very difficult to determine, but we would expect [iTunes video rentals] sometime in 2008.”
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