Disney sell 1.3m movies on iTunes as Europe store rumours grow

4 February 2007 15:56 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Disney has announced that its sold more than 1.3m films via Apple's iTunes Store in the first three months of being available.

The news, which is likely to put immense pressure on other Hollywood studios to follow suit comes as rumours build that Apple is about to launch the movie store in the UK to coincide with the launch of its Apple TV product.

In an exclusive video interview on FT.com, Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said digital distribution was “creating more consumption of media”. He added: “The message that we deliver to our traditional [retail] partners is that the pie is getting bigger”.

He dismissed fears that digital downloads would cannibalise DVD sales, held by many retailers in the US, pointing to record sales of Cars, a Disney animated movie, and of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which is on course to be the biggest selling DVD ever.

Disney claims it has sold more than 20m downloads of its TV programming on iTunes since it was first made available last year.

Meanwhile according to Mac magazine MacWorld, Apple will launch movie and TV download services in Europe this spring.

Citing Luxembourg's economy minister Jeannot Krecke, the magazine says the Statesman made the claim in local media earlier this week: "Apple is going to extend its electronic retail activities in Luxembourg by launching this coming spring its iTunes video platform for the sale of videos in Europe", he said.

The company will offer "full-length television show downloads", he said.

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