Links / downloadable files its not products entities ( so it doesn't have price_index table and it doesn't treated as products )
There is 2 Ways to apply promotion in products
Catalog Price Rules
Shopping Cart Price Rules
As your question stated that you used Catalog Price Rules I have solved your question using Catalog Price Rules.
Create Module and rewrite the Model
Mage_Downloadable_Model_Product_Type
======
<global>
<models>
<downloadable>
<rewrite>
<product_type>Web_Eproduct_Model_Downloadable_Product_Type</product_type>
</rewrite>
</downloadable>
</models>
</global>
and the Code Below calculate the price of each Link on the fly ( even if you have more than one rule applied to the same product )
class Namespace_Modulename_Model_Downloadable_Product_Type extends Mage_Downloadable_Model_Product_Type {
public function getLinks($product = null)
{
$product = $this->getProduct($product);
$wId = Mage::app()->getWebsite()->getId();
$gId = Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->getCustomerGroupId();
$catalogRules = Mage::getSingleton('catalogrule/resource_rule')->getRulesFromProduct('',$wId,$gId,$product->getId());
/* @var Mage_Catalog_Model_Product $product */
if (is_null($product->getDownloadableLinks())) {
$_linkCollection = Mage::getModel('downloadable/link')->getCollection()
->addProductToFilter($product->getId())
->addTitleToResult($product->getStoreId())
->addPriceToResult($product->getStore()->getWebsiteId());
$linksCollectionById = array();
foreach ($_linkCollection as $link) {
/* @var Mage_Downloadable_Model_Link $link */
$link->setProduct($product);
$link->setPrice($this->calcLinkPrice($catalogRules,$link->getPrice()));
$linksCollectionById[$link->getId()] = $link;
}
$product->setDownloadableLinks($linksCollectionById);
}
return $product->getDownloadableLinks();
}
public function calcLinkPrice(array $rules = array(),$productPrice = 0 )
{
foreach($rules as $ruleData)
{
$productPrice = Mage::helper('catalogrule')->calcPriceRule(
$ruleData['action_operator'],
$ruleData['action_amount'],
$productPrice);
}
return $productPrice;
}
}
I have tested it and confirmed its working as you expect :)
Try it and let me know your thoughts :)
There is another way to achieve this if you will use Shopping Cart Price Rules i will post it later.