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HBO's Entourage heads for iTunes
The distribution arm of US cablenet HBO will make all four completed series of its comedy Entourage available for download on iTunes US ahead of the show's fifth season debut on September 7.
Seasons one and two are available now, with season three hitting iTunes on August 18, and the fourth on August 26, to coincide with its DVD launch. Season five will also enter Apple's online store on the same, yet-to-be-announced, date that its season's DVD goes on sale.
The strategy behind this timing is aimed to allow "new and existing fans to prepare themselves for the premiere of season five," said Henry McGee, president of HBO Video.
However, each episode will be offered at iTunes' standard price of US$1.99 per episode, meaning that HBO could run into the same problem it found with The Larry Sanders Show, which worked out to be cheaper bought as a DVD set on Amazon than episode-by-episode on iTunes.
The DVD set of Entourage's first, eight-episode series can be purchased used for $13.95 on Amazon; the same series would cost $15.92 on iTunes. 13-part S2 fares even worse, at $17.98 for the DVD, which also includes extras, versus $25.87 on iTunes.
S3, on the other hand, is available only as two parts on Amazon for a total of $39.18, while the same 19 episodes on iTunes total at $37.81. A box set of series 1-3 also offers better value on iTunes than Amazon, at $73.60 versus $74.99.
Apart from The Larry Sanders Show, HBO programming already for sale in Apple's online store include The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood, Rome, Flight of the Conchords and The Wire.
Emily Brookes
13 Aug 2008
© C21 Media 2008
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