Lionsgate to offer iTunes files on DVDs

Studio is the latest to experiment with embedded copies

By Danny King -- Video Business, 3/10/2008

MARCH 10 | Lionsgate in May will start including an iTunes digital copy on some of its high-profile DVD releases, making it the second studio to work with Apple on providing digital files that can be played on iPods and other Apple devices.

The studio will embed the iTunes copy on special-edition and Blu-ray DVDs of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo, due May 27. Lionsgate will do the same for The Eye, starring Jessica Alba, when the title is released this summer, and for other titles later in the year, the company said today. The files also will be compatible with PCs.

Lionsgate is the latest studio to experiment with the inclusion of digital copies on its discs. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is experimenting with digital copies that can be played on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3 and PC. Warner Home Video and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment also are plugging files into major new releases, including March 18 release I Am Legend and April 15 release Juno, respectively, while Universal Studios Home Entertainment included a digital copy on the three-disc collector’s edition of American Gangster.

Fox is the only studio, prior to Lionsgate, to include iTunes copies.

By including iTunes files, Lionsgate is trying to boost DVD sales, which have been slowing industrywide. The studio’s home entertainment revenue accounted for more than a third of total sales, a higher proportion than the larger studios.

"Digital Copy for iTunes is a perfect example of how packaged media and new digital technology can work hand in hand for the benefit of our consumers," said Steve Beeks, president and co-chief operating officer of Lionsgate. "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. 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.”

In a separate announcement, Tango Entertainment said iTunes would start selling digital versions of two ’60s U.K. series featuring future Monty Python stars John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Eric Idle. The 1967 sketch comedy At Last The 1948 Show starred Cleese and Feldman, and the following year’s Do Not Adjust Your Set! featured Idle and Michael Palin. Both titles will be available starting today, Tango said.