Disney strikes film download gold with iTunes

Disney sales through iTunes have already reached $1m

Disney has shifted an amazing 125,000 downloads in its first week of selling films through Apple's iTunes online store. 

Disney chief executive Bob Iger told an investor conference that download sales so far had reached $1m (£531,000) and could run as high as $50m for the first 12 months.

Disney plans to add more films to the service as soon as it clears legal rights issues.

"Clearly, customers are asking for content available in multiple ways," Iger said, according to reports in The Financial Times.

The figure bodes well for the worldwide download markets as the films are only currently available to iTunes users in the US.

The sales may also persuade other film companies to sit up and take note as Disney was the only firm to sign up to the new service at its launch last week. 

Iger described the sales as significant because they occurred before the launch of Apple's iTV media streaming device, which he referred to as "a game-changer".

Apple's iTV will allow films to be watched directly on a television when the service appears in early 2007.