Apple today announced that movies from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment, as well as European studios are now available on the iTunes Store in France and Ireland for rent or purchase.

Movies are available for purchase on iTunes the same day as their DVD release, and can be viewed on an iPod with video, iPhone, Mac or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.

With iTunes Movie Rentals, once a movie is rented, it starts downloading from the iTunes Store directly to iTunes or Apple TV, and users with a fast Internet connection can start viewing the movie in seconds. Users have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started users have 48 hours to finish it?or watch it multiple times.

iTunes 9.1 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download from. iTunes movie purchases and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in Ireland. iTunes movies start at €7.99 for catalog title purchases, €9.99 for recent releases and €13.99 for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are €2.99 for library title rentals and €3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are priced at one euro more.