After six months outside, Apple
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate's lineup is impressive, including the Terminator series from Calee-FOH-nya's governator. Others include the Saw franchise, Basic Instinct, Dirty Dancing, and -- one of my all-time favorites -- L.A. Story. (I'll take a half-caf decaffeinated half-caf with a twist of lemon, please.)
More than 150 titles are expected to make their way into the iTunes library this month. When they do, the store will have roughly 400 films available for download and purchase.
Yet as great as that is for Apple -- and as bad as it is for Netflix
No one's saying, but my theory is that Lions Gate waited because it didn't want to price its films as low as $9.99 a pop, the way Disney does. If I'm right, it wouldn't be surprising. Not because I'm prescient or anything, but because Wal-Mart
Then there was Target's
Studios, too, have been reluctant to give Apple pricing freedom. That's why Disney was the sole supplier of flicks for months. But now Apple CEO Steve Jobs seems to have won the day -- the downloadable edition of T2 is selling for $9.99 at iTunes as I write.
That brings me back to Apple. Lions Gate may not be Sony
So, let's just call this deal what it really is: more proof that Apple is becoming the heaviest of the new Hollywood heavies.
Turn down the lights for a screening of related Foolishness:
- Disney may be winning all three battles.
- Universal Music Group may go bobbing for Apple in May.
- Oh joy. Another digital nobody goes for the big payday.
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Fool contributor Tim Beyers, ranked 1,569 out of more than 22,500 in the Motley Fool CAPS investor intelligence database, didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. All of Tim's portfolio holdings can be found at his Fool profile. His thoughts on growth stocks, Foolishness, and investing in general may be found in his blog. Disney and Netflix are Stock Advisor picks. Wal-Mart is an Inside Value pick. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy is the lion of Wall Street.