The Cupertino, California computer maker may be about to announce that it will be selling full-length films via iTunes.

September 1, 2006

Apple may be about to announce that it will be selling full-length films on its movie store. The news may be announced as early as September 12, the day the Apple Expo 2006 opens in Paris.

Red Herring earlier this month confirmed that executives at Lionsgate Studios had let slip that an iTunes movie deal was in the works.

In a call to investors on August 9, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha, a publisher of stock commentary and conference call transcripts, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer indicated the studio is ready to go digital.

RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank, confirmed to Red Herring that a deal to do iTunes movie downloads were discussed on the call.

Now, pricing details are starting to leak out. BusinessWeek reports that by mid-September, Apple will announce it will sell movies on its iTunes music store. The computer company will charge new releases for $14.99 and $9.99 for older movies.

The weekly business magazine also reports that Apple will begin selling a “wider screen,” iPod in the near future as well.

Partnerships Forming Fast

Whatever Apple plans, it will have to move fast. Big music companies are already partnering with Apple rivals.

Universal Music Group announced this week it will be offering free ad-supported music downloads via SpiralFrog.

Analysts say other such deals are already in the works as well.

“We view the upcoming launch of the SpiralFrog online music service as a major development, directly threatening Apple’s digital music business,” wrote Tsvetan Kintisheff of Kintisheff Research in a note released Thursday.

“If successful, this model would be poised to effectively challenge and even replace existing pay-per-song and subscription models,” he added.