Apple already offers TV shows in the French iTS (launched May 2008) and has taken a large share of that market, accounting for 75 per cent of DTO TV transactions in 2009. However, the online movies market is more competitive, with several established local services offering movies on a transactional basis, including Canal Play and Orange 2424 video, as well as offerings from the Xbox 360 and the PS3 games consoles. Indeed in 2009, the number of digital rental transactions in France was higher than in both the UK and Germany.

However, the digital retail market remained comparatively underdeveloped with French DTO transactions totalling 0.2m, compared with 0.7m in Germany and 1.1m in the UK. This is due to the fact that device-based online movie services have been slow to emerge in France and, in general, consumer willingness to purchase movies tethered to the PC has proven to be low. Canal Play enables side loading to Sony's PSP but only a selection of the service's library is available (and compared with video-capable iPods this represents a small addressable market). France didn't really have a dedicated device-based online movie service until the launch of Sony's PSN video store in November 2009.

Apple has historically provided a catalyst for growth in online movies transactions, particularly DTO, thanks to its compelling hardware-plus-content ecosystem. In Germany for instance, consumer revenue from DTO increased more than 10-fold in 2009 following the launch of movies in the local iTS, with Apple accounting for around 90 per cent of the market.

Screen Digest anticipated the roll out of movies to the French iTS in Q2 2010 and forecasts therefore include expected uplift.