The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

[lostinva]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

Walter -- yes, that was the point. They don't self-distribute the physical media, it goes through someone else. Thus, the Walmart sticker on the shrinkwrap can say "FOX" (or whatever) yet that studio's role was really nothing more than managing inventory and shipping it to the store.

Luz -- no it doesn't, and it wasn't meant to. I was only addressing the labeling issue per someone else's comment.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

Fox distributes home video releases for Starz/Anchor Bay, MGM, and most Lionsgate (ie, Rambo, Stargate).

Universal also distributes some Lionsgate (ie, Twilight, Hunger Games).

Many Paramount catalog titles are distributed by Warner (new UPC and WHV mark) -- not really looked into it, but those are likely UV only.

Confusing. Anyway that can explain why the label conflicts.

When you say...

"Fox distributes home video for Starz/Anchor Bay..."

...I think is a different question as to what studio holds the decision making authority over;

1. if a title will be made UV/D2D
2. when to spend the money to do so
3. what digital copy method to use in conjunction with packaged media

Getting a packaged media onto a store shelf I think is what you are describing and a different topic from what is being discussed in this thread (digital copy redemptions).

However, this is dealing with nuances of entertainment distribution legalities which I need to confess I have little-to-no research knowledge about, so pls correct me if I am wrong.

One thing that does seem to be clear as good crystal, iTunes/Apple charges studios for digital copy formatting titles to be distributed through the iTunes store. Studios can by-pass this extortion by using UV, which is why there is such an effort on their part to move in that direction.

Three major studios have dropped iTunes all together for digital copy redemption.

The others seem to be gravitating to that same decision and I suspect iTunes digital copy redemptions will be resigned to history before too long due to the economic benefits of going UV exclusive.

[LuzRinggold]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

It may be a bit confusing for the general public to know who owns the rights, but it in no way answers the question as to why the studio who owns the rights cannot get off their butt and make titles available for D2D a little faster. It would be a different story if this problem existed in stores who sells these same moves on DVD. They know who owns the rights or they wouldn't even be selling the DVDs and releasing titles on Blu-ray.

[lostinva]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

^ That example you used for Fox is incorrect. Dark Skies is released by Starz/Anchor Bay. Apparently, Walmart mislabeled their price tag.

The example you used for Universal is from Summit Entertainment which is owned by Lionsgate.

Fox distributes home video releases for Starz/Anchor Bay, MGM, and most Lionsgate (ie, Rambo, Stargate).

Universal also distributes some Lionsgate (ie, Twilight, Hunger Games).

Many Paramount catalog titles are distributed by Warner (new UPC and WHV mark) -- not really looked into it, but those are likely UV only.

Confusing. Anyway that can explain why the label conflicts.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

MAJOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	US/CAN MARKET SHARE (2012)	Link to Example
Disney Studios	DigitalCopy+	14.3%	Slip Cover Digital Copy Insert Redemption Page Code Accepted Select a Provider Enter Vudu Login... Movie in Vudu Libriary
Sony Pictures	UltraViolet Only	17.0%
Warner Brothers	Ultraviolet Only	15.4%	CLICK HERE
20th Century Fox	Ultraviolet Only	10.6%
Paramount	Ultraviolet & iTunes	8.5%
Lionsgate	Ultraviolet & iTunes	~7.5% (near-major)	CLICK HERE
Universal	Ultraviolet & iTunes	13.6%

MINOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	Link to Example
Starz/Anchor Bay	Ultraviolet Only	CLICK HERE
Relativity Media	iTunes Only

...added new Oz images to disney example

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

MAJOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	US/CAN MARKET SHARE (2012)	Link to Example
Disney Studios	DigitalCopy+	14.3%
Sony Pictures	UltraViolet Only	17.0%
Warner Brothers	Ultraviolet Only	15.4%	CLICK HERE
20th Century Fox	Ultraviolet Only	10.6%
Paramount	Ultraviolet & iTunes	8.5%
Lionsgate	Ultraviolet & iTunes	~7.5% (near-major)	CLICK HERE
Universal	Ultraviolet & iTunes	13.6%

MINOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	Link to Example
Starz/Anchor Bay	Ultraviolet Only	CLICK HERE
Relativity Media	iTunes Only

Huh, looking at the Vudu version you are right. Go figure. Thx.

The sticker said Fox. Anyway...

Table updated & moved the universal one to lions gate.

[rdodolak]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

^ That example you used for Fox is incorrect. Dark Skies is released by Starz/Anchor Bay. Apparently, Walmart mislabeled their price tag.

The example you used for Universal is from Summit Entertainment which is owned by Lionsgate.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

Updated table with links to some examples I gathered from a trip to my local WalMart.

MAJOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	US/CAN MARKET SHARE (2012)	Link to Example
Disney Studios	DigitalCopy+	14.3%
Sony Pictures	UltraViolet Only	17.0%
Warner Brothers	Ultraviolet Only	15.4%	CLICK HERE
20th Century Fox	Ultraviolet Only	10.6%	CLICK HERE
Paramount	Ultraviolet & iTunes	8.5%
Lionsgate	Ultraviolet & iTunes	~7.5% (near-major)
Universal	Ultraviolet & iTunes	13.6%	CLICK HERE

MINOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD
Starz/Anchor Bay	Ultraviolet & iTunes
Relativity Media	iTunes Only

[rdodolak]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

It's my opinion that although Apple has an extremely loyal and large user base, studios (including Disney) are recognizing money being left on the table. They are trying to develop an across the board standard that will capture all $$ to be made.

I don't expect Apple will get any Warner Bros. codes unless Apple joins Ultraviolet. As more people start to adopt "movies in the Cloud" streaming a universal standard needs to be in place. This is where Ultraviolet come in. At some point Apple (and to some degree Amazon...see Kindle) will have to ditch their arrogant attitude that we own the market and this is how things are done or that loyal user base will start to shrink.

You're forgetting this is the same company that's been a member of the BDA from the beginning yet they still refuse to incorporate Blu-ray drives into their hardware because, as i quote Steve Jobs, Blu-ray is "a bag of hurt". I think Apple doesn't support it because they weren't the ones to develop it.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

I reworked the table to include market share.

MAJOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	US/CAN MARKET SHARE (2012)	Link to Example
Disney Studios	DigitalCopy+	14.3%
Sony Pictures	UltraViolet Only	17.0%
Warner Brothers	Ultraviolet Only	15.4%	CLICK HERE
20th Century Fox	Ultraviolet Only	10.6%	CLICK HERE
Paramount	Ultraviolet & iTunes	8.5%
Lionsgate	Ultraviolet & iTunes	~7.5% (near-major)
Universal	Ultraviolet & iTunes	13.6%	CLICK HERE

MINOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD
Starz/Anchor Bay	Ultraviolet & iTunes
Relativity Media	iTunes Only

A few notes;

1. No major studio is offering iTunes exclusive digital copy redemptions as of June 11th `13
2. 43% of the market has Ultraviolet as their exclusive digital copy method
3. 72.6% of the market has Ultraviolet as their primary digital copy method
4. 86.9% of the market is controlled by the major studios and all have Ultraviolet digital copy redemptions (except for disney studios which is currently back door'ing the UV process via Vudu).

[echopulse]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

But people already have hundreds of iTunes movies from existing DVD's that only included iTunes digital copies. That's thousands of titles. UV only has hundreds. 1 year of releases vs. about 5 years with iTunes. And iTunes captures over 70% of the EST market, so that's huge! It's a good step in the right direction, but UV still has a long way to go to become a mainstream digital copy.

[MoWeb]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

It's my opinion that although Apple has an extremely loyal and large user base, studios (including Disney) are recognizing money being left on the table. They are trying to develop an across the board standard that will capture all $$ to be made.

I don't expect Apple will get any Warner Bros. codes unless Apple joins Ultraviolet. As more people start to adopt "movies in the Cloud" streaming a universal standard needs to be in place. This is where Ultraviolet come in. At some point Apple (and to some degree Amazon...see Kindle) will have to ditch their arrogant attitude that we own the market and this is how things are done or that loyal user base will start to shrink.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

iTunes does make it pretty simple, to play files on multiple devices. Yes, you can only play it with iTunes, but you can have up to five devices registered with the same account. This includes PC's. Macs, iPhones, Apple TV, iPads, and iPods. I really hope this CFF launch comes soon.

iTunes makes it easy, are you kidding?

The most common file format on the internet right now is MK4. iTunes only takes M4V.

This means handbreak to the tune of hours upon hours of CPU burning at 100% just to get something in into iTunes. Then add on top of it maticuliously adding the META data onto the file (artwork, synopsis, genre, etc).

If I buy a movie off iTunes, the downloaed M4V file does have some portability, but the process of doing so is about as far away from intuitive as can be engineered unless dealing with an iOS device paired with the iTunes.

Much easier is coughing up $2 for a D2D and when the pretty icon appears in your Vudu app, just press the "Download" button below it. Same concept with Flixster. Just press the "Download" button.

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY easier then iTunes.

Yes, CFF will be a nice standard, but with the landscape as it is today, iTunes is the roughest to deal with due to the M4V file format they require. YUCK!

Also, if the question is how is iTunes doing in the market and if UV is "competitive", I refer you to the below table.

This table looked vastly different two years ago. iTunes/Apple has fumbled in epic proportions.

They went from owning the digital copy market to all but being driven from it completely by an angry mob with torches and pitch forks.

It looks to my untrained eye that UltraViolet is very competitive and has become the presumptive standard with major studios leading the way.

MAJOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD	US/CAN MARKET SHARE (2012)	Link to Example
Disney Studios	DigitalCopy+	14.3%
Sony Pictures	UltraViolet Only	17.0%
Warner Brothers	Ultraviolet Only	15.4%	CLICK HERE
20th Century Fox	Ultraviolet Only	10.6%	CLICK HERE
Paramount	Ultraviolet & iTunes	8.5%
Lionsgate	Ultraviolet & iTunes	~7.5% (near-major)
Universal	Ultraviolet & iTunes	13.6%	CLICK HERE

MINOR STUDIOS	DIGITAL COPY METHOD
Starz/Anchor Bay	Ultraviolet & iTunes
Relativity Media	iTunes Only

[echopulse]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

Downloading UltraViolet files is not yet possible, so downloading is still not standardized. It requires separate applications for each provider. Until the CFF format is available for download, and there are multiple programs to play the files with, downloading won't be competitive with iTunes. iTunes does make it pretty simple, to play files on multiple devices. Yes, you can only play it with iTunes, but you can have up to five devices registered with the same account. This includes PC's. Macs, iPhones, Apple TV, iPads, and iPods. I really hope this CFF launch comes soon.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: The Demise of iTunes/Apple in the Digital Copy Market:

Here again is the current standings:

STUDIO NAME	DIGITAL COPY METHOD
Disney Studios	DigitalCopy+
Sony Pictures	UltraViolet Only
Warner Brothers	Ultraviolet Only
20th Century Fox	Ultraviolet Only
Paramount	Ultraviolet & iTunes
Lionsgate	Ultraviolet & iTunes
Universal	Ultraviolet & iTunes
Starz/Anchor Bay	Ultraviolet & iTunes

Article:
http://www.technologytell.com/homete...digital-early/

According to the article, the studios who are going UV exclusive are attempting to put pressure on Apple to adopt the new standard (UV). Apple doing so would be in the financial interest of the studios.

There are no studios offering iTunes exclusive digital copy any more.

That method has been resigned to history.

Someone mentioned Relativity Media is still issuing iTunes only DC redemption, but we can call them an outlier. I was going to swing by Walmart and validate their current release (Movie 43) to see if that was still the case.

Looking to the "major" studios for the direction the market is going is better, though.

I have read in multiple places that since UV now has download options as well as streaming options, there is no need for iTunes anymore.

The UV copies not being able to download for off-line viewing was the last thing keeping studios issuing DC codes for iTunes too. Now that download for off-line viewing is ubiquitous with UV providers, iTunes has lost any distinguishing feature.

I would suspect in the coming months, a few more studios to go UV only, since it costs less for them. Apple charges a fee to the studios to have their title released through iTunes.

Again, I find it remarkable that just a short time ago iTunes was pretty much the only method for digital copy redemption. The studios got together and coalesced around UV and now Apple/iTunes is being methodically cut out.

Their demise is a stunning turn of events to witness.