Four major studios, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros, are reported to be pressuring Apple Computer are pressing Apple to make changes to iTunes before they will agree to make their films available via the iTunes Store.Currently, content on iTunes can be synced to an unlimited number of iPods. The studios want Apple to limit the number of iPods that can be used by iTunes on a particular computer. Limiting the number of video iPods used by any one computer to four or five will, they believe, will limit illegal copying.

“The question is whether Apple is willing to be a little compliant in order to move the movie business more rapidly into digital distribution,” said one executive involved in the talks.He added the studio was “willing to do a deal” but wanted to secure concessions from Apple that reflected the “differences between the value of music and television content and feature film content”.

Walt Disney has been the only studio to strike a deal with Apple on distributing its films. Steve Jobs is the Disney’s largest stockholder.
Disney’s digital strategy has been the most adventurous in Hollywood, with the group selling more than 500,000 movies on iTunes since it joined the service this year.

via FT.com