Reading comprehension goes a long way, I said Apple not Tim Cook, if the Apple board decided to give something away free from iTunes then they could, in fact they already do it....All the movie studios are interested in is getting paid, they don't care if that money comes from the consumer or if Apple covers it.
It doesn't matter. Have you read their contracts? It might very well state in the contract that the money has to be from the movie itself. It could very well state that THEY control when it is on sale, free, or even to pull it from the iTunes store. The BoD cannot do anything, just like Tim cannot. So it really doesn't matter that I said Tim and not BoD. I have not seen their contract and I doubt anybody here has. I doubt that it is within the contract to even modify the price of the movie even if they get the same money.
It could very well state the following (note I am not a lawyer so this might be horrible wording from a legal point of view):
Under no circumstances can the price of the content be modified without permission from <MOVIE STUDIO NAME>. Any violation of this would be considered a breach in contract and will result in all movies from <MOVIE STUDIO NAME> removed.
It also still doesn't matter. Releasing content for free, yet still providing money to the movie industry and studios means Apple would be paying from their own pocket. BoD still cannot order such an action blindly. It takes a lot more than just:
Well RW passed away.
Can we release one of their movies for free?
Yes.
It takes a lot more time than that. Time, discussions, negations, checking with the legal team about contract issues, ...
The BoD would not release something for free that Apple would have to spend money to make up for.
And I know they have already done free stuff. But you have to remember that not all contracts are the same and not all movie studios are the same. The last time I remember them giving something away for free were albums (as in stream it now for free) or the 12-days of christmas app. In each event, it required the content producer (in the case for RW movies the movie studios and everybody else involved) for approval.