Apple’s Netflix Killer iTunes Replay Stalled By Hollywood

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itunesreplay

Remember the report that Apple was preparing its own Netflix-killer called iTunes Replay for launch in the next few weeks? Well, don’t hold your breath… it’s not coming anytime soon and, as usual, you can blame a reclacitrant Hollywood for having to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.

Chet reports:

The rumors from last week about Apple being “on the edge” of launching a cloud movie service, which would enable iTunes users to stream movies from Apple’s servers and then re-download them to other devices, are at best premature.
Apple has yet to sign cloud agreements for feature films with at least four of the top six film studios, according to multiple film industry sources who spoke to CNET. Apple has indeed pursued such agreements, which CNET reported in May, but Apple’s negotiations could drag on for months before the company acquires cloud rights from all six film studios, the sources said. A launch is not imminent, the sources said.

As Cnet notes, Apple’s iTunes Replay service isn’t the only cloud-streaming service held up by a tangle of red tape: Ultraviolet is also hung up for similar reasons, and that has the studio backing of all of the large studios except for Disney. If the studios can’t cut through the red tape for their own project, it’s unlikely Apple will help them.

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