Apple, it has been revealed, is in talks with several leading television groups for an Internet based TV service for its iPhone, iPad as well as Apple TV set-top box. It has been reported that the technology company is working out in offering slimmed down bundle of TV networks this coming fall and the service would be having around twenty-five channels which would be anchored by broadcasters like ABC, CBS and Fox that would be made available on Apple devices like the Apple TV.
An anonymous source has informed that the service which would be announced later this year offers a bundle of channels and would be smaller and cheaper than the overstuffed catalog offered in a cable subscription. Apple’s plans for a web TV series was followed by an announcement that it had formed an exclusive partnership with HBO offering the premium cable network’s new digital TV service, known as HBO Now.According to sources familiar with the matter, at present, the talks does not involve NBCUniversal, the owner of the NBC broadcast network and USA and Bravo cable channels due to a fall-out between Apple and NBCUniversal parent company – Comcast Corp.
New Service – June, Launch – September
Till last year, Comcast and Apple had been in talks and were working together on a streaming television platform which would be combining Apple’s expertise in user interfaces along with Comcast’s strength in the delivery of broadband. According to source, Apple was of the belief that Comcast was easing it along while the cable giant had its focus on its own XI Web enabled set-top box. Another media executive had stated that it would be difficult to launch a service without NBCUniversal channels, for Apple.
Apple in the meantime was in talks with Walt Disney Co; CBS Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc.; besides other media companies to offer the well-known channels while leaving the several smaller networks in the standard cable TV package. News Corp and 21st Century Fox, the owner of The Wall Street Journal were part of the same company till mid-2013. Some sources have also revealed that the company would announce its new service in June and its launch would be in September while media executive has stated that they believed that Apple is planning to price the service at $30 to $40 per month.
Live TV Streaming Service
For years now, Apple had been on and off talks with media companies with a hope of creating a subscription TV service which could be delivered over the internet and several of its proposals turned out to be essential but failed to succeed. Apple’s TV services would now be entering the market amidst strong competition in Internet TV services and most of the companies are looking for means of targeting those who would not want to pay the nominal $90 price for a TV cable package with hundreds of channels and intend to enjoy online video.
Apple is continuing with its proposal in creating a live TV streaming service in its recent talks, with a huge on-demand library which would be stored in the `cloud’ and it could be difficult for Apple to get rights to all the programming intending to offer, including full seasons of shows. Several of the media companies tend to have deals to license contents like these to outlets such as Hulu and Netflix.
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