Direct video download coming to Apple iPhone and iPod Touch?

According to a report on Open Salon, Apple appears to be preparing direct movie and TV show downloads on the iPhone.

Open Salon claims that an ad appearing in the free version of the app Twitterfon is the first place this new iPhone feature was discovered. However, the ad in question is nowhere to be found at press time and hasn't been confirmed.

iTunes TV ad

(Credit: Open Salon)

According to the report, the ad supposedly led to a place that pointed to some movie and TV show listings. The listings were broken down by genre, and although titles were listed, none would work when accessed.

Movies by genre (Credit: Open Salon)

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TV Shows by genre (Credit: Open Salon)

The Wrestler movie downloading (Credit: Open Salon)

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The Wrestler - download fails (Credit: Open Salon)

This story took an interesting turn last Friday when AppleInsider reported via its post, "Apple briefs staff on wireless iPhone movie and TV downloads," that the ability to download video-based media directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch via Wi-Fi and 3G might really be coming. Their story adds some weight to the Open Salon rumor by stating:

AppleInsider has learned from people familiar with Apple's training program that new self-guided training materials being distributed to familiarize AppleCare agents with the features of iPhone 3.0 software "definitely covered" the ability to directly download movies and TV shows on the device itself, rather than just syncing video content through iTunes.

Considering all this information--and that AT&T says it has been working diligently to deliver a better and faster performing 3G network--it does seem feasible that Apple and AT&T may have worked out issues surrounding direct video downloads, just as they did previously with music downloads.

Still, the rumors don't quite square with AT&T's refusal to allow SlingPlayer to work on its 3G network, supposedly because of the bandwidth the player would require.

What do you think? Would you be interested in being able to directly download TV or movies to your iPhone or iPod Touch? If Apple and AT&T allow direct downloads, should AT&T's SlingPlayer policy change? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.