Paul Morris·

Apple Is Close To Let iTunes Users Stream New Movies That Are Still Playing In Theaters

According to a new report, Apple and media giant Comcast are in joint talks to form a partnership which would allow the two companies to offer a streaming service showing movies that are still playing in theaters.

The report suggests that the two companies are talking to several major Hollywood studios about the potential of creating a premium service which would allow streaming access to movies just two weeks after they had been released into theaters.

This isn’t the first time that an idea of this nature has been floated, although it appears to be the first time that talks and discussions appear to have passed onto that stage with the information leaking out into the public domain. Plenty of avid movie fans who regularly visit theaters have often complained about the high costs associated with such a trip, ultimately wondering why a streaming service doesn’t exist which lets them experience the movies from the comfort of their own home.

Such a service would definitely cut into the revenues of the theaters, so it’s not hard to see why those companies would be against the move, but there’s a potential than any deal struck could try to mitigate those concerns.

Part of those ongoing discussions is said to be around whether or not there’s a potential financial model which could see some of the main theater companies financially compensated for any loss of revenue that they may incur if such a premium service was to exist under the proposed model. With that said, any deal around that area would be purely out of empathy for those companies, with the main Hollywood studios actually having the final say on whether or not a deal can be put in place with Apple and Comcast.

The same report suggests that companies like Warner Bros and Universal Studios are part of the proposed deal as potential studios to work directly with Apple and Comcast. Disney, one of the world’s most iconic studios, is not sitting at the table offering its own content, but that’s likely to do with the fact that it’s also pulling its content from Netflix as it prepares to launch its own dedicated streaming platform.

(Source: Bloomberg)

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