iTunes Replay Now Delayed Indefinitely

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If you were one of the doubtless many folks out there eagerly anticipating the iTunes Replay service that would have given you easy access to a whole lot of streaming content, bad news: reports have emerged suggesting that the service has been delayed for the near-term future, and the reasons why won’t be at all surprising.

The reports have emerged saying that Apple doesn’t have deals in place with content providers after all, and without said deals in place, iTunes Replay is dead in the water.

The reasoning behind the lack of deals–even with Apple’s status as the 800 pound gorilla–is actually pretty multifaceted in its own right. The HBO Rule has cropped up again to take Warner, 20th Century Fox and Universal out of the running, and the studios are looking to back Ultraviolet, a format more of their own making that gives them a little better position. Without the big names, that leaves a lot of studio product–especially many of the bigger “catalog” titles–out of the running.

Of course, one wonders why Apple didn’t simply pursue deals with those who wouldn’t fall under the HBO Rule like Lions Gate and Anchor Bay and any of a thousand little companies with direct to video portfolios, but last I knew, Lions Gate was backing Ultraviolet as well, and Anchor Bay would likely be complicated by its own version of the HBO Rule, as they’re a part of Starz.

Basically, it’s more issues with the constantly thorny landscape that is intellectual property law and rights schemes. I’m all for copyrights and the like, but they do have an unnerving tendency to get in the way of progress with disturbing frequency of late. Hopefully they can get this all righted around, because iTunes Replay even had me interested, and I’m much more a PC type than a Mac.

And what do you guys think here? Think they can get this tangle of rights issues figured out to get iTunes Replay off the ground soon? Or will we still be waiting in time for another physical format war? Either way, the comments section is waiting, so head on down and tell us what you think!