As picketing continues outside studio gates, everyone from talent agents to George Clooney has been mentioned or tried their hand at mediating amidst the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and executives of the TV networks and film production companies. But here’s a name that hasn’t crossed too many minds: Steve Jobs, Apple’s bearded, music-loving chief executive officer.

Consider that scenario: On Jan. 15, as the writers’ walkout drags into its eighth week, Jobs will take the stage for a keynote at his annual Macworld conference. He’s expected to announce that at least two — and possibly as many as five — studios have signed up to offer their movies for download to Apple’s video iPod and Apple TV products. That will no doubt generate big headlines — everything Jobs announces at Macworld does — and could invent the notion of downloading movies from the Web a hot topic after years of false starts.

In doing so,

Jobs could plus put a Hollywood-style klieg light on the major issue separating the writers and movie moguls: how to cut in the unions for a share of the revenue from a new market that the studios have insisted isn’t yet big suitable to share. “It could validate everything that we’ve been saying,” says WGA Assistant Executive Director Charles Slocum. “If he plus announces that it will be in high-definition and you can order from the TV, it will mean the creation of a whole new market.”

Prelude at CES

Odds are, at the very least, Jobs will soup up Apple TV, giving consumers the ability to download movies from their sofas. But the Apple announcement, whatever it is, will just be the latest in what’s become a steady drumbeat of statements from consumer-electronics companies and Hollywood studios indicating that the download market may finally be gaining some…

Orginal post by Top Tech News