There’s a report floating around the interwebs tonight that Apple will be raising the price of a movie on the iTunes Store in order to appease Hollywood studios. Ars Technica reports that, according to a claim by Pali Research(membership required), Apple will raise their wholesale movie price to $15 US a pop. The Ars report does note that it is uncertain exactly how this price increase will affect the actual selling price (aside from the obvious fact that it’s going to go up!).

As of right now, Apple charges $12.99 US for new releases sold on iTunes, and $9.99 US for older titles. What does this get you? A 640 x 480 digital copy of a movie that you can’t legally burn to a DVD and pop into your DVD player.

As of right now, Apple sells movies from Disney and Paramount, and those companies’ subsidiaries. Keep in mind this report is very much unconfirmed.

Deep Thought’s (very annoyed) take: Oh, how I hope this isn’t true. Say it ain’t so, Steve. Say it ain’t so!

More movies. Good. Higher prices not so good. As Ars notes, it doesn’t seem like movies on iTunes have really set the world on fire, so it’s understandable that Apple would go this route (assuming this is true, of course; Apple has not confirmed these reports) and try to increase its selection. But I see this backfiring big. If people aren’t buying now, how are higher prices going to help any? Hoe many people here are willing to pay over $15 US for a movie they can’t play in their DVD player?

Let me put it this way: should this be true, despite a larger selection of titles, stick a fork in movies on iTunes. It’s done. iTunes and DVD sales have to compete against piracy. You can’t beat free, but you can be more competitive. A price hike in exchange for a larger selection at this point in the game would be like two steps forward and three steps back for both Apple and the media companies. In the end, they lose.

Guys, if you have any sanity left, don’t do it.