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Apple Inc. and News Corporation’s 20th Century Fox
have signed a deal that will enable consumers to rent the studio’s recent releases
via Internet downloads, the Apple’s popular iTunes digital media store,
according to the Financial Times Thursday, citing “a person familiar with the
situation.”
As part of the agreement, Twentieth Century Fox will use
Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management technology in future DVD releases, this
being the first time someone other than Apple has used technology, the report
said. This technology would allow users to copy movies from a DVD onto an iPod,
it said.
Attempts by Apple to coax other Hollywood studios to distribute
over iTunes over the past years have been unsuccessful, but, according to the
newspaper, Apple is in similar talks about online movie rentals and FairPlay with
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount
and Warner Bros.
Apple is currently offering some movie from Walt Disney and
other studios on iTunes, but these are only available for purchase and not for
rent.
This deal could help Apple energize its online video efforts
by giving consumers more options for accessing movies.
Representatives from both companies could not be reached
immediately to comment over the deal.
According to the Financial Times, the deal between Apple and
Twentieth Century Fox will be announced on January 14 most likely at the
Macworld conference.
Apple shares reached an all-time record of $200.96 in
intraday trading before pulling back to end the day at $198.95, up 15 cents on Wednesday.
Shares of News Corp., which owns MarketWatch, the publisher
of this report, climbed 1.7 percent to $21.82.
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