HBO Working With Fox And Universal To Remove iCloud Restrictions

The announcement of the new Apple TV with its iCloud integration was overshadowed by the absence of movies from 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios. According to AllThingsD, the studios were tied up in a deal with HBO, giving the cable provider an exclusive window in which to show their movies. The Wall Street Journal now reports that HBO are working with Fox and Universal to find a resolution.

HBO reportedly pays "hundreds of millions of dollars a year" in order to secure it's exclusive window on showing movies, which also allows them to offer the same content on its HBO Go service. In a statement, HBO said that they were not willing to give up those exclusive windows, but that they were willing to relax their restrictions in allow users to move content they already own to other devices using iCloud.

HBO have apparently already to loosen its restrictions on Warner Bros. content, and is in talks with Fox and Universal to do the same with their selection. Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that Fox expects to resolve the issue "within weeks", while Universal are also close to a solution.

The other major feature announced for the third version of the Apple TV was 1080p support for movies and TV shows. The increased resolution doesn't come with a price increase, and any existing content that users have purchased in 720p will automatically see the upgrade to 1080p if it's available. 1080p content can also be streamed to the new iPad with its Retina Display, carrying a resolution of 2048x1536.