I can safely delete movies and TV shows that I've purchased on iTunes, correct?

You can’t re-download them. You are responsible for backing up your own files. The iTunes Store catalog changes all the time. The stuff you purchased might not even be there anymore or won’t be in the future. Plus Apple would have to pay for the bandwidth of you downloading large video files multiple times which would raise the prices.

Buy an external hard drive and backup your purchases next time.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1469

It is my understanding that if you wanted to re-download them, you’d also have to re-pay for them.

If you email the iTunes support team and explain they may let you re download them once.

Well, this is great. I’m in france and none of my external hard drives are here.

Oh Andrew, we’ll sing to you.

anything you “rent” from apple belongs to apple.
anything you buy from apple ,, still belongs to apple

If you buy a DVD and then throw it away to free up space on your bookshelf, you can’t go into a store and get another copy for free. You have to pay for it again. There’s no new paradigm here. Only the media has changed, not the policy.

Nope – you can not re-download.

No you cant download them again without paying again. Back up your iTunes purchases.

@MrItty Well, a bit different… since when you buy software you’re only buying a license. I assumed it was the same for music and video.

@andrew go ahead, delete Microsoft Office, without creating a backup of your CDs first. See how willing M$ is to let you redownload it for free.

@MrItty It’s a valid question. If you purchase a video game from the Steam download engine, you can download for free it again if you reformat your hard drive for example.

It depends on the application. On itunes, you can’t. I think we’re all in agreement on that.

I’m not saying it’s not a valid question. I’m saying it’s not justification for a stereotypical “DOWN WITH OUR OPPRESSIVE DRM OVERLORDS” rant.

@MrItty Microsoft will let you download Office as many times as you like. In fact if you have a netbook it’s the only way to install it. (Assuming you didn’t throw out the bit of paper with the key on when you threw out the the CD’s)

@MrItty I don’t think anyone here is saying that.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic from @Odysseus:
“anything you “rent” from apple belongs to apple.
anything you buy from apple ,, still belongs to apple”

I apologize if i’m wrong but I think that if you have an iPhone or iPod with your iTunes purchases on them, you can sync them back to iTunes. I believe there is an option to do that.

Yes I just checked. Go to File > Then “Transfer Purchases from iPod”

While I think @Odysseus was incorrect in that assumption, it’s a tangent from the question and not wholly relevant.
In any event, have a good weekend.

@MrItty Gotcha. I thought you were directing it at me. FTR, my position on piracy.