Apple’s iCloud to Include Movies and TV Shows? [WWDC]

Apple WWDC 2011 June 6

Earlier today, Apple announced that Steve Jobs will take the stage at next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). They even took a step further, pre-announcing that Jobs will introduce the company’s “iCloud” service.

So far, any news on Apple’s iCloud service mentioned Apple striking deals with music labels and publishers, the idea of movies and TV shows were never really put in the spotlight. Now, CNET is reporting that Apple is working towards including movies and TV shows into their iCloud streaming service.

“In the past several weeks, Apple executives have stepped up their attempts to convince some of the major Hollywood film studios to issue licenses that would enable Apple to store its customers’ movies on the company’s servers, two sources close to the negotiations told CNET. Apple began discussing a cloud service with the studios over a year ago.”

The report also mentions Apple’s negotiations with the film studios are ongoing, but a problem with a major cable network, HBO, may delay the process to bring TV shows on board. This problem with HBO is an agreement between the cable channel and Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and NBC Universal that requires those studios to stop sales and distribution of their content whenever it is being aired on HBO. This may pose a problem with Apple as they strive to keep their services consistent and may also affect customers who would like to watch content using the service at any time.

It is uncertain at this point, where Apple stands on TV shows and movies as it is unlikely that they will strike a deal by next week’s announcement. TV content for iCloud is currently based entirely on speculation at this point, possibly stemming from Apple’s current “Multi-Pass” and “Season Pass” in iTunes which allows customers to purchase larger bundles of content at once. However, rumors about Apple’s inclusion of TV shows and movies are currently overshadowed by negotiations with music labels, looking to provide iTunes customers with content.

While TV Shows and Movies are a big part of Apple’s iTunes revenue stream, music labels have been in the works for Apple’s iCloud service and is likely to make an appearance before any other type of content.

[Via MacRumors]

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