Two weeks after Bell Canada unveiled its own online video store, Apple Inc.'s iTunes store in Canada has followed suit, adding movies for download to its growing catalogue.
Apple announced Wednesday that more than 1,200 films were available for rent or purchase on its Canadian and U.K. iTunes stores, the first time feature films were made available through the online retailer outside the United States.
Movies are available for purchase at prices ranging from $9.99 for older titles to $19.99 for new releases, while rentals cost between $3.99 to $4.99 and include titles such as Juno, The Bourne Ultimatum and Cloverfield.
Video was added to the iTunes lineup in the U.S. two years ago, but has been slower to come to Canada. Television episodes only became available for download in Canada in December.
In the United States, companies like Apple and Microsoft typically negotiate download deals directly with a television show's producer. In Canada, however, television networks often hold the internet rights to shows, which adds a layer to negotiations.
The delay allowed Bell Canada to beat Apple to the punch and launch its own video service in May.
Each service, however, has staked out different territory because of limitations in how they can be played. Aside from watching them on a computer, iTunes users can view Apple's videos on an iPod or Apple TV, the company's Apple TV set-top box.
Bell Video Store users must install the Bell Video Store media player on their computer, and the service is limited to PC users running Microsoft's Windows operating system or owners of some mobile media players from Archos. The videos won't play on iPods or computers running the Linux operating system.
Microsoft also launched downloadable movie rentals in December over Xbox Live, the online component of its video game console.
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