Wikileaks, the famous website that publishes leaks of public documents and made famous its creator Julian Assange, has just released reports that are owned by Sony Pictures and which refer to Apple. According to this leak, Apple would have been testing Sony 4K content licenses since 2013.
The document is signed by Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services at Apple and former Sony Pictures executive Jim Underwood. The leaked document is owned by Culver, Sony's distribution company based in Culver City, California. The letter reveals that in 2013, Apple requested and obtained the usage rights to play 4K content de Sony.
As part of the agreement, Apple has only allowed the use of the 4K content for testing and to prepare it for playback via streaming. with a video-on-demand format and aimed at a home entertainment base. This means that as part of this specific agreement, Apple cannot sell or offer any Sony 4K content through iTunes, but only Sony content can be tested in 4K so that in the future it could have this possibility.
This means that it would be need another contract between Apple and Sony so that it could offer Sony 4K content through the iTunes Store.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the next generation Apple TV will not have 4K support, which probably means that Apple is not going to offer this type of content through the iTunes Store, at least in the near future. The fact that Apple has been testing this type of content for more than two years shows its interest, however, we see that it still you do not plan to implement it in the short term.
At first it was planned to make known a revamped Apple TV at WWDC 2015 last week, but it finally didn't. This device is likely to be presented by the end of the year