Lionsgate joins iTunes Digital Copy
updated 09:15 am EDT, Mon March 10, 2008
Lionsgate BR/DVD & iTunes
Lionsgate, the independent studio most recently responsible for movies such as Rambo and The Bank Job, has announced that it will be the next company to support Apple's iTunes Digital Copy program. The program puts iTunes-formatted versions of movies on retail discs, as an accompaniment to the standard version; while these videos are restricted by Apple's DRM protection, it provides a quick and legal method of synching movies with computers, iPods, iPhones and Apple TVs. The first company to support Digital Copy was Fox, with the release of Family Guy: Blue Harvest on DVD.
The first Lionsgate release with Digital Copy will be Rambo, in both its Blu-ray and regular DVD editions, which are due on May 27th. The next subsequent release will be the American remake of The Eye, starring Jessica Alba, which is expected on DVD sometime in the summer. The studio expects "numerous" more titles to ship by the end of the year.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2005
DRM?
And have they publically announced a DRM policy? Are we going to have to deal with the same issues as Fox DVDs? Until they do, people will still rip their movies with apps like handbrake. For example, of the 3 people I know who own Blue Harvest, 2 ripped it with handbrake to their libraries, even though there was already a version there. Why? Because if they have multiple machines, they can move it wherever they want.
Draconian DRM, or even lesser DRM, isn't going to fly when its just as simple to circumvent it. Give it 5 years or so, then maybe they'll learn.