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Peter Chernin, News Corp's chief operating officer, told a conference call with analysts and journalists that the company is holding talks with Apple, but would not say when, or even if, they would be successfully concluded.

Currently only Walt Disney and its subsidiaries, such as Pixar, sell movies through iTunes, although Apple does sell Fox television shows.

Of all the films that Fox has in its back catalogue, the jewels in the crown, sales wise, are likely to be the Star Wars movies. Gaining the rights to the Jedi adventures ahead of other online movie services such as Amazon's Unbox, whose limited Fox collection does not yet include any of the six films, will be a big win for the service.