Wal-Mart says it wants to play nice with others. According to the New York Post, Wal-Mart warned Hollywood movie studios that it would fight against distribution of movies on iTunes, worried that Wal-Mart DVD sales would decline as a result. Earlier this year, an insider suggested that many of the "big box" stores, including Wal-Mart, had expressed deep concern when Disney started selling TV shows on iTunes.

Wal-Mart, however, says otherwise. They submitted a recent report saying that they were not trying to stop movie studios from using other forms of distribution, such as Apple iTunes. According to an insider who wished not to be identified, Wal-Mart has discovered that the demographics differ on consumers who download movies--typically single young males--versus buyers of DVDs, and as a result now see no threat to their in-store DVD sales.

Downloads of movies from iTunes has produced $1 million in revenue in their first week of sales, according to Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger. iTunes, according to Iger, has not lowered TV viewership or DVD retail sales.

Apple's upcoming iTV device has a hard drive. This is what Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed during a Goldman Sachs conference where he announced first-week sales of Disney movies through iTunes.

According to Iger, the device "can also stream it live through the box to the TV or it has a small hard drive on it so they can download what you put on the device on your computer, on your iTunes, through the television set."

Iger was able to see the device in action and said that the iTV "plugs into the television like any other peripheral would... It's wireless. It detects the presence of computers in your home; in a very simple way you designate the computer you want to feed it and it wirelessly feeds whatever you downloaded on iTunes... to your television set."

The hard drive feature has been something that many assumed would be missing from the iTV. In addition, Iger also revealed that at this point, the iTV's playback quality is currently at DVD and not HD level, but that's something that we expect to change in the near future. We'll be sure to keep our eyes peeled for more news about the iTV so stay posted.

Apple has just announced iTunes 7, a new enhancement for the iTunes store that now allows users to download movies, among other things. iTunes 7 now comes with several nice features in the package which now makes things even more convenient for all Apple-lovers everywhere. These features include new album and Cover Flow views of music, TV shows and movies, expanded parental controls, and an iTunes video playback window with on-screen controls. The iTunes store also currently has 75 movie downloads from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, as well as mini-video games from various manufacturers, all of which are playable on fifth generation iPods.

Mac and Windows users can download iTunes 7 for free on the iTunes online store. However, as far as the availability of TV shows and the like, feature films are available only in the US while while video availability varies from country to country. At the moment, games can only be downloaded in 21 countries and can only be played on fifth generation iPods.

By the way, Steve Jobs has already showcased an upcoming product which has been informally dubbed as the iTV player. Expect more info about this in the future here at QJ.

Despite Apple's earlier announcement about the availability of full-length movies from the iTunes Store, it seems that many major movie studios (and not to mention some retailers) are rather wary about releasing their titles to the public in such a manner.

So far, only Disney has willingly come to an agreement with Apple execs to put up their movies for sale via iTunes. On the other hand, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros. have imposed the condition that instead of selling their movies via iTunes for $9.99 a pop, the titles would instead be rented out to users.

Despite having given in to the pressure from the Hollywood bigwigs, Apple is still hoping that by offering movies from companies such as Disney and other smaller movie companies, the major companies will finally be convinced that Apple's deal may not be so bad after all.

The online sales of film that started last March has remained minimal. Interests people show are not that favorable for companies until now. Given this, the internet's two biggest retailers are still willing to take chances. Amazon and Apple will begin the new service this week, the magazine Variety reported.

What's interesting though is that the only studio that will definitely be part of Apple's movie store at launch is Disney. This is contrary to the previous reports that Touchstone and Lions Gate are already on board. On the other hand, Amazon.com seemed to have gotten the better deal as they've reached an agreement with almost all the major studios (Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., MGM and Lionsgate).

Also, the prices Amazon tagged with movie downloads appear to be substantially less. Apple is planning, Variety says, a tag price between $10-$15. Furthermore, those who go with Amazon will have the option to buy or just rent whereas Apple offers only sales.

The only apparent advantage Apple has is the movie downloaded from the iTunes Music Store will play on the iPods and Amazon's titles will not.

Things are getting leaky up at Apple, and we couldn't pass this opportunity up. In any case, while the whole "iTunes get movies" gig is well-known already, we're still chucking this up on the rumor mill first. This is because September 12 hasn't happened yet. And so, remember: "innocent rumor until proven guilty official".

So what are we dealing with here? It seems as if the movie line-up for the iTunes Music Store has snaked its way out of the Apple confidential files.

One of the main players is Disney's Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, who will have a collection of Disney movies up:

• The Lion King,
• Aladdin, and
• Pocahontas.

Aside from the classics, they'd also put up

• James and the Giant Peach,
• Chicken Little, and
• even Herbie: Fully Loaded.

Other movies include:

• Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
• Disney/Pixa's Toy Story series,
• A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc.,
• Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and
• Cars.

Touchstone Pictures also has their line-up:

• Pearl Harbor,
• The Sixth Sense,
• Gone in 60 Seconds,
• King Arthur,
• Signs, and
• Reign of Fire.

We'd also get horror movies from Lion's Gate Entertainment:

• Hostel,
• Saw
• Saw 2, and
• American Psycho.

It is worthy to note that some of the above movies will not be immediately available for download in the iTunes Music/"Movie" Store. Instead, they'd be slowly uploaded over the span of six months.

For all intents and purposes, until September 12 hasn't happened yet, just keep on coming back to QJ for more updates and other leaky stories...

During a financial earnings conference call last August 17, Lions Gate Films' executives revealed that they have reached an agreement with Apple to launch Apple's movies online.

In addition to Lions Gate, Apple has also reportedly tied up with other major movie studios - Walt Disney, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros. for its iTunes movie rental service. Although Apple has reportedly been trying to work on their movie features, the current movie distribution model allows for movie rentals only.

No one knows yet when Apple will launch their movie rental service except for Steve Beeks, Lions Gate's president, who also would not disclose the information to the press. All we know is that Apple's movie rental service is due for launching later this year. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how things work out.

Now that Apple dominates the music world, film studios are afraid the computer company has its eye on the film industry as well. Nonetheless, several Hollywood studios are currently in negotiations with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Other studios, wary of dealing with a member of Disney's board, are talking with Apple VP Eddie Cue instead.

The studios are resisting Job's idea that feature films be priced at $9.99. Typically, library titles are sold to big-box chain stores for much lower prices than new releases. Right now, the studios think Apple should sell similar content at multiple price points, which has not been done previously.

According to Variety, film studios are also negotiating with other distributors such as Amazon, Movielink and BitTorrent, to head off any chance of a monopoly. Most major studios will probably have movies available through the iTunes Music Store by year's end.

Disney, it seems, is liking this new Apple venture: distributing television programs on a Video iPod. So far, the move has attracted thousands of customers to the unique format, with over 3 million video downloads to date.

Seizing on the opportunity, Disney has announced it will release additional content available for download through iTunes. You sports fans out there will be happy to know that you will be able to download sporting programs, including content from its ESPN and ABC Sports outlets.

"Kicking off the latest effort are condensed versions of this year's four college BCS bowl football games from ABC Sports. Later this month, ESPN will provide content from its X Games coverage, 'SportsCentury' interviews from ESPN Classic, and the amusing 'This Is SportsCenter' show. Also in the works are ESPN Original Entertainment programs including 'Knight School,' the forthcoming reality program featuring Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight, which will premiere on iTunes."

Are you ready for some Monday Night Football?

[Via, Sci-Tech Today]

MSNBC and the Wall Street Journal report that Apple is in talks with major labels to license music videos for sale through the iTunes Music Store:

Apple has approached the four major music companies, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group PLC, Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG, a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG, to license music videos for sale through iTunes, according to people in the media industry. The videos, which could go on sale as early as September, would likely be sold for $1.99 each, with the possibility of a discount if consumers buy a music video and a song at the same time.

What's more, a followup story at the Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple may have more than music videos in mind for its video iPod:

Steve Jobs has spoken with Disney President and soon-to-be CEO Bob Iger about ways to license various Disney content for a video iPod, according to an internal Disney email I have obtained. That could include anything from clips from ESPN and ABC News to short cartoons.

...and that the new unit won't be without...particular competition:

If the past is any measure of what?s to come, Jobs will enter the arena late (as he did with the iPod) only to leapfrog over the competition with some entirely different device. And that could leave everyone from Microsoft?s Bill Gates to Sony?s Howard Stringer once again racing to copy their far smaller rival.

The buzz surrounding the family member that will take the iPod to the next generation has never been at such a fevered pitch. With rumors of music videos being sold through the iTunes Music Store as early as September, could a video iPod be just weeks away?