Following on from Apple’s official confirmation today that Steve Jobs will be launching the iCloud service at WWDC on June 6, CNET’s Media Maverick blog is reporting that Apple fully intends to offer feature films and TV shows with the service, provided it can reach agreement with the Hollywood film studios to store customers’ films on its servers.
CNET’s sources say that negotiations between Apple and the film studios have been going on for the past year, and are still ongoing. Apparently Apple has come up against several obstacles, including something known as “the HBO blackoutâ€, which could prevent Apple from getting licenses from at least three of the major film studios. This is because HBO has a special deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and NBC Universal, which ensures that when HBO shows a movie from one of those three studios, all other outlets are prohibited from selling or distributing the title. As it stands, this same blackout would apply to Apple’s iCloud service. If Apple and the three aforementioned studios fail to come to an agreement, that would leave only movies from Disney, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures available to Apple for iCloud streaming.
Source: Apple still trying to land films, TV shows for iCloud | Media Maverick - CNET News
