Apple’s iTunes Store is set to offer movie titles from Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The deal, at least for the time being, will only cover Paramount’s back catalog.
Paramount’s catalog titles include hits such as “Forrest Gump” and “Mission: Impossible.” Apple CEO Steve Jobs is widely expected to announce new partnerships with Hollywood studios today during his keynote speech at Macworld Expo.
“The Hollywood studio has stopped short of also providing its new releases in an effort to allay concerns of DVD retailers about competition from iTunes,” reports the Journal.
“Paramount decided that by only providing catalog titles, which will be sold at $9.99, it would get most of the benefit from the download service and less of the hassle from retailers… They reasoned that catalog titles will provide more revenue than new releases.”
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