Apple UK set to flick the switch on iTunes movie downloads
It's been quite some time coming, but Apple Inc. later this month will finally extend iTunes movie and TV show downloads to iTunes customers in the United Kingdom.
Citing "trusted sources within the company," ArsTechnica reports that UK residents will have to wait just a couple more weeks before their local iTunes store begins serving up feature films and television shows. The backend technology and media catalogs are said to be in place, and all that's required to get the ball rolling from here on out is a simple 'flick of the switch.'
iTunes customers in the UK have been waiting patiently for the proliferation of digital video downloads to make its way overseas. Apple's customers in the United States have been privy to TV show downloads since October of 2005 and feature films since last September.
While licensing issues are believed to have delayed the rollout thus far, Apple Europe boss Pascal Cagni in April went on record in saying that Europeans would gain access to movie downloads through local versions of the iTunes Store by the end of the year.
As Ars notes in its report, the verdict is still out on when other European countries will be given access to Apple's vast catalog of commercial video content. Similarly, details are scarce on specifically which shows and movies will initially be made available in the UK.
During a question and answer session with members of the media on Tuesday, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs hinted that his firm would "have some news" related the company's video-centric Apple TV digital media hub in the new future, but that a Mac event was not the place to make such revelations.
Apple's U.S.-based iTunes service is presently the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store featuring a catalog of over five million songs, 550 television shows and 500 movies.
Citing "trusted sources within the company," ArsTechnica reports that UK residents will have to wait just a couple more weeks before their local iTunes store begins serving up feature films and television shows. The backend technology and media catalogs are said to be in place, and all that's required to get the ball rolling from here on out is a simple 'flick of the switch.'
iTunes customers in the UK have been waiting patiently for the proliferation of digital video downloads to make its way overseas. Apple's customers in the United States have been privy to TV show downloads since October of 2005 and feature films since last September.
While licensing issues are believed to have delayed the rollout thus far, Apple Europe boss Pascal Cagni in April went on record in saying that Europeans would gain access to movie downloads through local versions of the iTunes Store by the end of the year.
As Ars notes in its report, the verdict is still out on when other European countries will be given access to Apple's vast catalog of commercial video content. Similarly, details are scarce on specifically which shows and movies will initially be made available in the UK.
During a question and answer session with members of the media on Tuesday, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs hinted that his firm would "have some news" related the company's video-centric Apple TV digital media hub in the new future, but that a Mac event was not the place to make such revelations.
Apple's U.S.-based iTunes service is presently the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store featuring a catalog of over five million songs, 550 television shows and 500 movies.
Comments
It's been quite some time coming, but Apple Inc. later this month will finally extend iTunes movie and TV show downloads to iTunes customers in the United Kingdom.
Cam on Appull u slags... Serve em up b4 I slice u up
Deffo... About Ruddy Time!!!!!!!
Cam on Appull u slags... Serve em up b4 I slice u up
Speak English... oh, never mind.
(actually I already have that on DVD)
At last!
I hope they have some BBC content.
What? Blame Canada? OK. Wankers! It's your fault.
But will the beeb put content there? My guess is no.... it would show how crappy WMP - sorry, iPlayer really is.
I would guess no too although it'd be cool if Apple did what the BBC couldn't do and deliver the BBC's content cross platform, for free to licence payers of course.
Too bad...US tv comedy shows don't cut it for me
I didn't know they had any.
But will the beeb put content there? My guess is no.... it would show how crappy WMP - sorry, iPlayer really is. Too bad...US tv comedy shows don't cut it for me
Yeah, I doubt there's going to be anything worth watching on it. Apple may long for the death of the DVD and for Apple TV to become as popular as the iPod but until they get some decent video content on iTunes theres no chance.
Just in time for Lost season 4 and 24 season 7.
-- warning: completely off-topic --
-- warning: completely off-topic --
Yeah, I thought.. "After all that, what a crap ending!"
So, I doubt that most European are waiting for iTunes to download legally TV show and movies... Since all major ISPs have there own set-top-box, subscribers can see their show on TV or computer.
More competition is always good though.
of course people are waiting for iTS in the EU to deliver video!!!
the french, german and british solutions until now SUCK BIG TIME!!!!
it's about time apple showed the "big" ISPs what "ease of use" means!!!
for my part i will get an appleTV when US TV series are available in the EU undubbed, dubbed is fine, but i like the undubbed version....
if apple chooses to deliver dubbed only i will stick to EZTV bittorrent delivery, LOL:-)
apple needs to deliver HD content ASAP... if they start in the EU with lower than SDTV resolution i will not be buying either...
the ADSL2+ lines, which i have @ my home, help apple as they help any content provider... germany even has 25 and 50Mbit VDSL lines which would make HD distribution much faster... but 16-24Mbit ADSL2+ lines are fast enough for h.264 HDTV content... h.264 720p/1080i is normally encoded @ around 8-10Mbit/sec, so there's plenty of bandwidth for web surfing and VoIP or other stuff while downloading HD resolution video from whatever source!!!!
europe is ready for apple and their video iTS content...