Apple has only recently started offering movies through iCloud. This means that you can re-download the movies you have purchased via iTunes, through your iCloud account. However, when Apple launched this feature, content from Universal Picture Studios and Twentieth Century Fox was absent, since the two had a prior agreement with HBO. But now HBO has agreed to let the two content producers the permission to offer movies via iCloud.
The delay in the offering of content from these two prominent content producers has primarily been because of a prior agreement the two had with HBO. But now Wall Street Journal has reported that HBO has now agreed to relax the terms of the agreement so that both Universal and Fox will be able to offer their movies through iCloud. The result is that the content of Warner Bros. is currently being offered on Apple’s cloud service.
However, HBO still has a lot of leverage over the content churned out by the two studios. According to the terms that have been agreed upon, HBO will have exclusive rights to broadcast movies for a specific amount of time after they are released. This ‘window’ is said to start six months after a movie is released and then continue for the next six months.
While Universal already has sealed the deal with HBO, Fox is still on the way. According to WSJ, “Fox expects to resolve the issue as soon as within weeks, said a person familiar with the situation.” HBO, on the other hand, has confirmed that it will allow the users to re-download content if they already own that content on other devices – in other words, HBO has expressed its willingness to have the content from Fox and Universal to be offered through iCloud.
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