If I had nickel for every time I was asked this question I would quit my wonderful day job and run ATVJ full time. I figured it was time to give my poor mans theory as to why movies have a limited rental run in the iTunes Movie Store and Apple TV.

On a DVD release date movies go out to vendors such as Netflix, Blockbuster and the iTunes Movie Store/Apple TV to be distributed as rentals. The big difference between the iTMS and say Netflix is that the studios treat the iTMS more like a TV Broadcast Channel by allowing only a limited run license for any new rental release. This is much in the same way you might see The Godfather Trilogy run on say the cable channel Spike for a month or so and then go away. Haven’t you ever wondered why titles such as the Godfather Trilogy or even the Star Wars series has never been available in the iTMS? The studios seem to be giving exclusive licensing rights to cable channels such as Spike. I would hope that at some point these licensing deals end which would allow some of these movies to end up as rentals in the iTMS.

Once a particular new release title ends its initial rental run in the iTMS, the rights seem to revert over to premium pay cable channels such as HBO or Showtime. The run on the premium channels seem to run about 12 months at which point the exclusivity of the particular title ends and studios seem to license the title back to Apple and the iTMS as a rental. You can see evidence of this with the recent re-release of Live Free and Die Hard as a rental. It seems as though either the studios or the premium pay cable channels see the iTMS as some sort of competition. Why they don’t see Netflix or Blockbuster with their traditional disc rental service as competition I have no idea.

Again, notice when these premium cable channels start the movie viewing run, this is usually a year from the theatrical release. Keeping that general idea in mind you can guess at a new release title rental run in the iTMS. This is usually from the DVD release date to about the year anniversary mark of the theatrical release. Give or take a week or so.

Ultimately if there is a gripe to be made it’s not with Apple but with the Movie Studios and the way they license these rentals to Apple. I have a feeling that if it were up to Apple they would want to be treated as equals with Netflix and Blockbuster in how they rent old school disc media. This is my theory and I am sticking to it. If anyone else has a more informed and educated response I would love to hear it.