The BBC has signed a multimillion pound deal with Hollywood studio Disney to show hit movies including Calendar Girls, Chicago and Pirates of the Caribbean.
It is the first major rights deal the BBC has struck with any of the studios since a row blew up earlier this year about the corporation abandoning BSkyB's encryption system and putting all of its services "in the clear" on digital satellite.
The US studios, including Disney, Friends producer Warner Bros and Fox, which makes shows including The Simpsons, were concerned the BBC's digital satellite move in July could allow viewers in neighbouring countries to watch programmes broadcast by the corporation.
Broadcasting "in the clear" on digital satellite means that BBC channels are no longer encrypted - a kind of electronic firewall that prevented the signal being received overseas.
The studios were concerned that if their films and TV shows broadcast on BBC channels could be seen in other countries, it could affect their rights deals with foreign broadcasters.
Warners Bros, Universal and Fox brought in lawyers at one stage and it looked as if BBC deals for US TV shows and films - including the first Harry Potter movie - could be under threat.
The BBC is still in negotiation with Fox about securing rights to the third series of BBC2 hit 24.
But the Disney deal, which gives the BBC exclusive UK terrestrial rights to more than 100 films from the end of 2004, suggests the corporation may have found a way of dealing with the studios' concerns about the digital satellite rights issue.
"These concerns have been addressed as part of the deal. We are not re-encrypting [BBC services on digital satellite]," a BBC spokeswoman said.
She added that there had been no financial settlement to compensate Disney for possible loss of revenue in other countries.
The Disney deal includes British comedy hit Calendar Girls, which stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters and is based on the true story of a group of Women's Institute members in Yorkshire who posed nude for a fundraising calendar.
BBC viewers will also get the chance to see Oscar-winning musical Chicago, starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere, and swashbuckling action hit Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl, featuring Johnny Depp.
Other titles in the Disney deal include two movies starring Nicole Kidman - critically acclaimed literary adaptation The Hours and the yet to be released Cold Mountain, in which she features alongside Jude Law.
The BBC has also bought library titles including the English Patient and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.
