Hollywood execs praise iTunes at CES

During a panel discussion held this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, several executives from the leading movie studios praised Apple’s iTunes Store for creating a viable digital market for their films. Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, said that Apple is a great partner, adding that they helped create an important, and competitive download-to-own marketplace for films. Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for Disney/ABC TV group, followed Gewecke’s commments by stating that Apple should be rewarded for its efforts in creating the iTunes ecosystem of content distribution, adding that Apple is “the best partner we have to legitimize product and make it available.” Finally, Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, said that iTunes is proving to be an excellent place to offer his studio’s catalog films, while pointing out that Paramount is actually garnering higher prices for back catalog releases on iTunes than for physical copies of the same films.