World of Apple reported this week that Apple was opposed to the request and had threatened in a statement to the CRB to close the iTunes store if the rise went ahead. In the statement given to the CRB 18 months ahead of the decision Apple exec Eddy Cue said: “Apple has repeatedly made clear that it is in this business to make money and would most likely not continue to operate iTS (the iTunes Store) if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”

On Friday Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr said that “We’re pleased with the CRB’s decision.”

Fortune is reporting that the Copyright Royalty Board is expected to rule on Thursday on a proposal from the National Publishers’ Association to increase the rates paid to its members from online services from 9 cents to 15 cents.

Apple is reportedly opposed to the rate rise and has submitted a statement to the board:

“If the [iTunes music store] was forced to absorb any increase in the … royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss - which is no alternative at all,” Cue wrote. “Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”

The record labels who are reportedly “in no mood to pay the proposed royalty increase” have suggested the CRB to do away with fixed royalties in favor of an 8 percent commission to artists, which would translate to about 5.6 cents on the wholesale cost of each 99 cent track. The Digital Media Association which represents online retailers such as iTunes has suggested an even lower rate of 6 percent, or 4.8 cents per track.

Hollywood Reporter states that since the networks return on September 9th over 1 million NBC TV shows have been downloaded. It should be noted that NBC is giving away free HD episodes, TUAW has compiled a list of the free downloads available.

Ars Technica is reporting that upon downloading an HD episode of a TV show, the SD version is also downloaded for use on an iPod. This relatively unknown fact was not mentioned during yesterday’s keynote.

Upon purchasing an HD episode iTunes will download and sync the SD version to an iPod or iPhone.

networks’ top 10 series available immediately for purchase and download in both standard definition and stunning high definition. iTunes customers can choose programming from NBC, USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, Sleuth and NBC News including favorites such as the award-winning and critically acclaimed “Heroes,” and the Emmy award-winning programs “The Office,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “30 Rock.” NBCU standard definition television shows on the iTunes Store are $1.99 per episode and HD programs are available for just one dollar more at $2.99 per episode and select library content is available for $.99. Additional NBCU programming from Oxygen, Telemundo, Mun2 and NBC Sports will be available on iTunes soon.

“The return of our shows to iTunes is terrific news for everyone who loves television and the ease and convenience of Apple’s iTunes,” said Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal. “And now, by offering consumers a variety of new options, our fans have even more ways to enjoy our content.”

“We are thrilled that NBC is back on iTunes in time for the Fall TV season,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “NBC has some of TV’s most popular shows and now customers can purchase and download them from iTunes in SD or stunning HD.”

Using Apple’s breakthrough Genius feature is easy—select any song, click the Genius button, and iTunes instantly creates a playlist of songs that go great together from your own library. You can preview the playlist Genius creates, refresh the list to choose different songs and save Genius playlists to enjoy again later. You can even create Genius Playlists on-the-go with the new iPod classic, iPod touch, iPod nano and iPhone. The Genius sidebar appears right in iTunes and recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don’t already have, based on the songs you select.

iTunes 8’s new visual browsing interface displays your music and video libraries using your album and video covers, and also provides a great way to navigate your movies, TV shows, iPhone apps, podcasts and audiobooks.

In a short blog post on his own website Rose wrote:

iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don’t already have.

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

Rose clearly states that the information comes from a new source but is consistent with details he has heard before.

In addition to these details Kevin Rose sent out a post on Twitter talking of “trippy” visualisations in iTunes 8 describing it as:

the new iTunes 8.0 visualizations are really trippy - there is one with planet like objects wrapping around each other w/stars/light streams

As we had discussed here and here, the iTunes store went down in China early last week and was restored over the weekend. As it turns out, while the service is restored, Chinese authorities have apparently discovered a way to selectively block the offending album, “Songs for Tibet”.

How is this a favour for Apple? There were in a no-win situation. If they stood their ground and refused to pull the album as a condition for iTunes stores availability in China, they might win cheers from humanitarian groups while losing a potentially lucrative iPhone market which may not have been in the best interest of its stockholders. If they caved and pulled the album, they would be painted by some as giving in to a totalitarian regime which goes completely against American sensibilities (America being the most relevant as Apple is based in California).

So thank you, China…? I guess…

via Music2dot0

Please note that source, in my opinion, contains spurious criticisms which would better be refuted here in an Op-Ed piece.

Michael Wohl, executive director of the New York City-based group, said he believed the album was the reason for the iTunes interruption, though he had no proof. “We issued a release saying that over 40 (Olympic) athletes downloaded the album in an act of solidarity, and that’s what triggered it. Then everything got blocked,” Wohl said by phone.

“We are aware of the log-on problems but we have no comment at the moment,” said Huang Yuna, an Apple spokeswoman in Beijing. She declined to say how many customers were believed to be affected.

Computerword blogger Seth Weintraub notes that blockages may simply be caused by increased internet traffic due to the Olympic games.

If it is true that the problems are attributable to government intervention spurred by the release of Songs for Tibet, Apple may find itself in an awkward position of having to decide between business and politics. The Chinese iPhone market is a huge potential source of future profit for the company, yet if certain material is selectively removed to appease an oppressive government, Apple’s reputation in the court of public opinion could be substantially scarred. Both Seth Weintraub (link above) and TheDigitalLifestyle.tv have interesting perspectives on this issue.

Australian iTunes Store

iTunes movies in Australia start at A$9.99 for catalog title purchases, A$17.99 for recent releases and A$24.99 for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are A$3.99 for library title rentals and A$5.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are priced at just one dollar more. iTunes movies in New Zealand start at NZ$9.99 for catalog title purchases, NZ$17.99 for recent releases and NZ$24.99 for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are NZ$4.99 for library title rentals and NZ$6.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are priced at just one dollar more.

Like in Canada and the UK, Australia and New Zealand movie rentals have a 48-hour period to watch the movie before it expires.

According to a report today, Apple has decided not to adjust the pricing on the UK iTunes store.

“The announcement was that we would match the UK price to that of other lower priced European countries”, an Apple spokesman said. “This is no longer necessary as exchange rates have effectively done it for us”.

At the time of the decision the exchange rate would have meant that a song costing 0.99 euros would be 74p, but as the Euro has risen against the pound in the last few months a 0.99 euro purchase now equals 0.79 pounds.

Apple has begun listing the date on which a film will be available for rental from the iTunes store, the move comes after Apple began making far more movies available for purchase than rent.

Apple also officially changed the heading on its iPod Games pages from “iPod Games” to “iPod classic and nano Games,” a move presumably ahead of the launch of iPhone and iPod touch games in July.

Television shows now available are:

• Disney-owned production company ABC Studios programs airing on Seven Network including “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost” and “Scrubs;”
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation programs “Summer Heights High,” “We Can Be Heroes,” “Double the Fist,” “Foreign Correspondent Postcards,” “Sleek Geeks” and “Surfing the Menu;”
• Disney Channel’s kid and tween sensation “Hannah Montana,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and “Cory in the House;”
• Nine Network programs “Canal Road,” “McLeod’s Daughters,” “Sea Patrol” and “Urban Magic;”
• MTV Networks’ “Blue’s Clues,” “The Hills,” “Laguna Beach,” “My Super Sweet Sixteen,” “South Park” and “Pimp My Ride.”

Individual shows are priced at $2.99 AUD.

“We’re thrilled to bring television programming to the iTunes Store in Australia,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’re off to a great start with shows from Australia’s top networks combined with favorites from the US, which customers in Australia will love being able to watch on their computer, iPod or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.”

The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over eight million songs, over 20,000 TV episodes and over 2,000 films including over 350 in stunning high definition video.

“We’re kicking off movies on the iTunes Store in the UK with over 700 films for purchase and rent”, said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We think customers in the UK are going to love being able to enjoy their favorite movies on their iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV”.

iTunes movies are available at £6.99 ($14.99 CAD) for library title purchases and £10.99 ($19.99 CAD) for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are £2.49 ($3.99 CAD) for library title rentals and £3.49 ($4.99 CAD) for new releases, and high definition versions are priced at just one pound (dollar) more.

Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 48 hours to finish it — or watch it multiple times.

iTunes U offers access to educational content from some of the world’s leading universities and colleges, and today the Open University, UCL and Trinity College join those institutions, making materials available for discovery by anyone with iTunes and an internet connection.

Open University on iTunes U

Science, the arts, technology and computing, humanities and the environment are all among the subject areas featured. The range of courses and content has a global reach and feel as befits an international launch - Venice, Paris and Istanbul for Art History; Sierra Leone for an in-depth exploration of the issues of a country recovering from bloody civil war; the complex problem of the US-Mexican border which is a major case study for a course on globalisation; to Lake Baikal in Central Asia to understand the environmental impact of industrialisation in post Soviet Russia; the far East for world religions.  

At the other end of the scale cows that choose when to get themselves milked by robots; a researcher pushing the boundaries of human computer interactions using implants; the world of mathematical modelling and the way societies over the centuries have understood and used maths; an ecology field trip in the English uplands, and the sumptuous funerary setting of medieval England’s richest man, Richard Beauchamp.
Today marks just the beginning of an ambitious programme of development by the OU. More video and audio material will be made available to reach a target of 500 items drawn from 50 OU courses by the end of July. The University also plans to extend the range of items beyond course materials to include some of its research activities. The site can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/itunes

Welcoming the launch of Trinity College Dublin on iTunes U, the Provost of TCD, Dr John Hegarty said: “Through pioneering the use of this new technology, Trinity College is reaching out to a variety of audiences – potential and current students, staff, alumni and the general public, in fact anyone with a love of learning which demonstrates our social and educational outreach mission”.

“Trinity College Dublin, founded in 1592, is the oldest university featured on iTunes U in the iTunes Store today. This project is an example of combing tradition and innovation”, the Provost added.

John Murphy, Acting Director of TCD Information Systems Services stated: “Podcasting is the next growth area in higher level education. We are always embracing new technologies, and at the same time using them effectively for teaching, learning and research. The iTunes U interface provides control, flexibly, accessibility and management of the College’s online content in a manner not previously available”.

UCL academics and students are already using new technologies, including podcasting, to share information from their research and studies. UCL on iTunes U enhances the university’s provision of information and extends its reach to new audiences around the world. It will also enhance learning and teaching, developing innovation through new technology and meeting the needs of today’s techno-literate students.

UCL President and Provost Professor Malcolm Grant said: “UCL is one of the world’s leading universities, with an ethos not only of excellence, but also of innovation and accessibility. It is entirely in keeping with this ethos that we engage with new technologies to further our teaching, learning and engagement with the public. We are pleased to be leading the way in Europe.”

Professor Peter Mobbs, who leads the academic aspect of UCL on iTunes U, said: “Our students will be able to revisit materials presented to them in lectures, so they can learn anywhere and anytime. Furthermore, our students are among the world’s best and brightest, and I want them to be involved in generating and sharing their own content – discovery, analysis, imaginings – through audio and visual media, in collaboration with staff and other students.”

Hit television programming is available from France’s top networks including TF1, France Télévisions, Arte, Mediatoon’s Dargaud TV and Dupuis TV, along with hit US shows from The Walt Disney Company and MTV Networks.

iTunes customers can choose from a wide range of primetime favorites including “La main blanche,” “Les Contes de la Collection Chez Maupassant,” “Coeur Océan,” “Spirou et Fantasio,” “Lucky Luke” and “Le dessous des cartes,” as well as Emmy Award-winning programs “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty” and “South Park.”

“iTunes is the number one digital music store in France and we’re off to a great start with TV shows,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’re thrilled to launch with over 25 programs and 450 episodes available on the iTunes Store in France.”

Television shows are priced at €1.49, €1.99 and €2.49 per episode.

Apple is said to have reached deals with Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Lions Gate and MGM to offer films for sale and for rental on the iTunes Store.

Pricing is not currently available but industry sources have stated that they “would not want to undercut DVD prices”. That would suggest prices ranging anywhere from £6 to £25.

Coldplay’s album Viva La Vida isn’t available until June 17th but can be exclusively pre-ordered. The track “Viva La Vida” featured in the advert is available as a single download now.

View it on Apple’s website or download the high quality QuickTime movie.

One executive familiar with the negotiations claims that Apple’s hoping for “a big launch in June,”. According to the article Apple wishes to offer iTunes store downloads via the mobile network; currently iTunes Store downloads are only available on the iPhone when connected to WiFi.

With expectations high for Apple to release a 3G iPhone in the coming weeks it is expected that Apple wishes to take advantage of the new over-the-air speeds and offer music store purchases. However the report notes that music labels which to charge more for music sold over the cellular network.

Apple is also negotiating for answer tones to be sold on the iTunes Store.

“The company is also hoping to add answer tones, also known as ringback tones—songs that a caller hears instead of the ‘ring ring’ sound while waiting for someone to answer,” the report says. “In some cases, these command an even higher wholesale price than ringtones.”

“We’re very excited to make these legendary HBO programs available on the iTunes Store,” said Henry McGee, president of HBO Video. “Whether catching up on ‘Sex and the City’ in anticipation of its upcoming movie release or reliving a favorite ‘Sopranos’ episode, we think viewers will love being able to watch these shows on their iPod or iPhone.”

“We’re thrilled to bring this incredible lineup of programming from HBO to the iTunes Store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “These are some of the most talked about television shows ever, as well as some of the most requested by our customers.”

Television shows purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac or PC, iPod nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “Flight of the Conchords” are $1.99 per episode, and “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome” are priced at $2.99 per episode. iTunes customers can also choose to purchase entire seasons of their favorite programs.

Apple is close to announcing it has signed a deal to sell HBO programs and movies on the iTunes website, according to HBO employees involved in executing the agreement.

The HBO insiders said that the new service would be launched and announced simultaneously, most likely in a week or two.

The key part of Portfolio.com’s statement is the price structure change, the site suggests that either HBO is receiving a larger cut of the $1.99 or shows will be more expensive.

Apple and NBC Universal have quietly rolled out a selection of TV shows onto the UK iTunes Store. The move appears to clarify past reports that Apple and NBC are attempting regain a relationship.

Only a handful of shows are currently available on the UK store; Heroes - Season Two, House, Eureka, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and The Incredible Hulk.

Of particular interest is the variable pricing which has appeared, current shows cost £1.89 each, where as episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and The Incredible Hulk are available for just £1.19 each.

Rumours that Telecom Italia would carry the iPhone have been officially confirmed by the Italian carrier today.

Telecom Italia announced today it has signed a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Italy later this year.

Vodafone also announced today that it will carry the iphone in Italy, a clear sign that Apple is abandoning its exclusive deals with carriers.

Video on French iTunes Store Soon?

French website ElectronLibre (Google Translated) is reporting that Apple will launch video for the French iTunes Store later this month.

Apple has signed contracts with seven major international and local studios, including Paramount and Disney, of course, but also EuropaCorp, the production house of Luc Besson.

The French iTunes Store will become the 4th store to receive video content, along with the UK, Canada and Germany.

New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod with video, iPhone, Mac or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV, with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99.

“We’re thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios.”

New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include “American Gangster” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Other popular titles now available for purchase include “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

The company also declares it now offers a catalogue of ten million tracks in the US - 9.8 million more than the 200,000 songs offered on launch of the service five years ago.

iTunes sold 275,000 tracks in the first 18 hours of its existence, shifting one million songs within its first five days. Sales grew exponentially when iTunes for Windows shipped in October 2003, selling one million songs in three days. On 15 December, 2003 Apple announced that it had crossed 25 million songs sold. The service launched in France, Germany and the UK on 16 October, 2003.

Shows currently available include: Lewis, Goodnight Mr. Tom, Brideshead Revisited, Cold Feet, Captain Scarlet and The Saint.

“We want to give viewers the opportunity to watch their favourite shows wherever they are. ITV has thousands of hours of classic content in the archive which we are bringing to a whole new audience via iTunes,” stated Dawn Airey, managing director of ITV Global Content.

“Our strategy is to deliver 360 degree value for our content on multiple platforms, and in multiple territories, and our partnership with Apple is a demonstration that we are delivering on that strategy,” Airey added.

The chief noted during the Ad:Tech conference that the company would “love” to come back to iTunes but price and piracy points remain an issue. Speaking during the conference Kliavkoff said, “If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets on to that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures,” obviously referring to iTunes. He continued, “One of the big issues for NBC is piracy. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products.”

During the on-stage interview the chief said, “We’d love to be on iTunes. It has a great customer experience. We’d love to figure out a way to distribute our content on iTunes,” he said, but wouldn’t comment on any negotiations. “We have film distribution with iTunes so yes, we do talk to Apple,” he said.

Price also appears to be an issue for NBC as Kliavkoff noted, “They can mark up the price and make a profit or use it as a loss leader to get people in the door,”. “It’s really difficult for us to work with any distribution partner who says ‘Here’s the wholesale price and the retail price,’ especially when the price doesn’t reflect the full value of the product.”

He added “The music industry guys would have something to say about how the pricing has affected their product over the last few years.”

Each Tuesday, more than 7,000 Starbucks company-operated locations in the US will stock a new Pick of the Week download card redeemable on the iTunes Store for a complimentary song or music video hand-picked by the Starbucks Entertainment team and iTunes. The first Pick of the Week, available starting today at participating Starbucks locations, is Counting Crows’ new song, “Washington Square.”

“With Pick of the Week, Starbucks will leverage its trusted curatorial voice in music and entertainment through its partnership with iTunes to provide our customers with a world-class digital discovery experience,” said Ken Lombard, president Starbucks Entertainment, in the press release.

“Pick of the Week provides an incredible way for Starbucks customers to discover great new music and videos for free on the iTunes Store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, in the press release. “With the world’s largest online catalog of music and video there is truly something for everyone.”

In October 2007, Starbucks and iTunes teamed up to launch Song of the Day, which offered Starbucks customers the opportunity to pick up a new complimentary download hand-picked by Starbucks Entertainment and iTunes each day for a month. Customer response to Song of the Day was unprecedented and resulted in more than 6 million songs downloaded. Realizing that a large audience hungry to discover new music and entertainment content had been tapped, Starbucks and iTunes worked together to create an ongoing version of the program to drive discovery and sales for great artists.

Once Pick of the Week cards are distributed, customers will then have up to 60 days from the date they are available to redeem their complimentary digital entertainment offering on iTunes.

Pick of the Week is the next phase in a partnership between Starbucks and Apple which began with the launch of the Starbucks Entertainment Area within iTunes in October 2006 and the launch of the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at select Starbucks locations in October of 2007. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks lets customers at participating Starbucks use the Wi-Fi network to wirelessly download music onto their iPhone, iPod touch or computer with no Wi-Fi connection fees or hotspot login.

“We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We are thrilled, and would like to thank all of our customers for helping us reach this incredible milestone.”

On the spreadsheet containing data from NPD Apple leads the pack with 19% with Wal-Mart trailing behind with 15%, Best Buy in third with 13 percent and Amazon in fourth with a mere 6%.

January 2008 figures | Courtesy of NPD via Ars Technica

Apple even noted themselves via a press release at the end of February that they had assumed second place.

It appears to be only a matter of time before Apple will eventually gain first place for good.

“iTunes is the world’s most popular online music and TV store with over four billion songs and 125 million TV episodes sold,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’re off to a great start with over 35 TV shows available on the iTunes Store in Germany.”

Television shows purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac or PC, iPod nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. Television shows are priced at €1.99 and €2.49 per episode. Television programming on the iTunes Store in Germany includes favorites such as:

• ProSieben’s Deutscher Comedypreis-winning comedy “Switch!,” “Tramitz and Friends;”
• Sat.1 comedy show “Zack! Comedy nach Maß” and action-drama “GSG9;”
• ZDF Enterprises’ kids animation “Shaolin Wuzang” and documentary “Update 2057 - Unser Leben in der Zukunft;”
• ABC dramas “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Criminal Minds;”
• MTV Networks hits “South Park,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Avatar: The Legend of Aang;” and
• Brainpool’s Deutscher Fernsehpreis-winning comedy programs “Stromberg” and “Dr. Psycho” and comedy program “Kaya Yanar-Made In Germany.”

The huge jump in Amazons position comes as consumers seek DRM-free music of which Amazon has a catalogue of 4.5 million compared to iTunes’ 2 million.

No sales figures have been released so it is unsure how close Amazon has got to Apple’s position.

[Update] As pointed out by Peter in the comments, eMusic’s CEO David Pakman has written a blog post pointing out that USA Today’s article lacks serious merit, most notably any figures. The CEO naturally believes that his company that uses a subscription music model sits in second place behind iTunes.

In an email to Season Pass subscribers, Apple has detailed its plan to offer two free download credits for Season Pass subscribers to be used to buy TV shows, music videos, or short films at the iTunes Store. Apple also said it would credit Season Pass holders with the number of unaired episodes.

From: iTunes Store

iTunes Store Team

The performance which will take place on Wednesday 26 March will coincide with the bands album release(iTunes link).

Attendance will be extremely limited - just 450 people will be able to watch the band perform, with attendance limited to chosen fan club members and competition winners.

The performance will be available as a video afterwards on iTunes.

The UK iTunes Store (iTunes link) now has a selection of shows from Channel 4 available.

UK dwellers can now download every series of Channel 4 comedies such as ‘Spaced’, ‘Black Books’ and ‘Peep Show’. In addition, the latest episodes of popular dramas ‘Skins’ and ‘Shameless’ will be available for download the day after transmission. More great content from C4 will be added to iTunes in the near future.

“The “all you can eat” model, a replica of Nokia’s “comes with music” deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apple’s hardware.” reports FT.com.

Negotiations are currently being delayed due to discussions over pricing. Apple is reportedly only offering $20 per device where as rivals Nokia are offering almost $80 per handset.

Other possibilities are rumoured to be a subscription based service for $7-8/month with the capability to keep 40-50 tracks/year after the subscription lapses.

Apple appears to now be offering some solution by offering partial refunds or video credits to Season Pass owners “depending on the situation”.

It appears that the necessary credits and/or refunds have been applied to iTunes accounts.

Apple has failed to comment on the situation.

An iTunes Digital Copy is a file that can be easily transferred from a DVD disc to iTunes where it can then be viewed on the PC or Mac or synced to an iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.

Lionsgate is the second studio to join the Digital Copy initiative following the lead of Fox back in January.

The first Lionsgate DVDs to debut with iTunes Digital Copy will be the special edition DVD and Blu-ray releases of “Rambo” on May 27th, and “The Eye” latter this summer. In addition, Lionsgate and Apple said they plan to deliver numerous other films on DVD with iTunes Digital Copy later this year.

“Lionsgate is constantly identifying fresh opportunities to monetize its 12,000-title filmed entertainment library in an increasingly digital world and provide product that is at the very cutting edge of consumer taste,” said Steve Beeks, President and co-Chief Operating Officer of Lionsgate. “Our consumers are always looking for new viewing options in terms of the motion pictures they buy, and we are always searching for new ways to deliver content in formats that reflect consumer preference across the entire home entertainment spectrum, from packaged media to digital storage to VOD.”