• By Jackson West
    May 1, 2008 5:20 PM 1,243
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    Obscene iTunes profit margins finally win Hollywood's heart

    apple_tv_set_top_box.jpgSteve Jobs has finally wooed all the major studios, including Fox, Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount and Universal, to sell movie downloads on the day DVDs are released. On Friday, you'll be able to wait a while as American Gangster downloads over your crappy American broadband connection for $14.99. And it will be delivered in lower quality than standard DVDs, without any of those annoying extra features. But it will have Apple's DRM installed with every copy! What finally brought Hollywood to the table?

    As Defamer points out:

    Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes cited a 60%-70% profit margin during a VOD trial for Warner Bros. films on cable — more than twice the return on Time Warner DVD rentals.
    If those margins hold for Internet distribution, and customers start adopting digital movie downloads in big numbers, it'll be hookers and blow time in Hollywood again soon enough. (Photo by James Thompson)


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