MGM Movies Now Available on iTunes

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios and Apple recently announced that MGM will now offer titles from its catalogue of feature films for purchase and download on the iTunes Store website. This deal will add to iTunes menu of over 500 movie titles available for purchase and download. (Source: reuters.com)

Beginning Wednesday, MGM, which has the largest modern film library in the world (over 4000 films), launched 25 titles for download on iTunes. An Apple spokesperson noted that more of MGM's films would be added over the next several weeks. (Source: blogs.pcworld.com)

The iTunes online store started offering film downloads in September 2006, and initially only offered movies from the Walt Disney Co. repertoire. Since then, Apple has signed deals with other major studios including Lionsgate Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.

With over 2 million movies sold, iTunes reigns as the globe's most popular online movie store. Despite this, other large studios have not made their films available through iTunes. Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros. have started distributing their pictures on rival movie download services from Wal-Mart and Amazon.com.

Eddie Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes noted that, "We'd love to have all the movie studios, that's certainly our goal... [and] I think it's just a matter of time." (Source: businessweek.com)

Cue rationalizes, saying that studios just want to wait and see "how the marketplace develops" prior to signing any deals that would make their films digitally available through iTunes. (Source: businessweek.com)

Given the recent issues with DVD piracy, major studios are worried about the security of movies downloaded via the public web domain. They've had a very bad time with DVD piracy, which may be hindering additional studios to sign with online film distributors.

In the meantime, and with the recently announced deal, more and more MGM titles will be available to purchase through iTunes. These downloadable films will not be HD (high definition), but will "play at near-DVD quality or 640x480 screen resolution". (Source: blogs.pcworld.com)

The movies available on the iTunes Store, on average, will cost the user $9.99 per download.