Starting this week, some movies, actually 2—“Brokeback Mountain” and “King Kong”--will also be provided to consumers online by downloading through Movielink. In response to consumer’s growing expectations to download entertainment, especially after Apple offered up deals with various TV networks for hot shows (“Lost,” the “OC”) via iTunes last October, this somewhat forced progression for studios to provide similar distribution access to movies was inevitable.

In an effort to not sabotage DVD sales, which generally account for higher profits than box office proceeds, those who download movies ($20-$30 for new ones; $10-$20 for oldies), will not be able to burn them onto a DVD. Yet.

So far, the studios that are moving into this space of offering movies in a digital format for download include Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and MGM.

Label Networks will be completing an entire section on youth culture and the entertainment industry within the upcoming North American Youth Culture Study 02006. Contact us for info@labelnetworks.com.