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Apple Reportedly Working On an Online TV Service

Posted by Soulskill on from the eliminating-those-choices-that-confuse-your-pretty-little-head dept.

An anonymous reader writes: According to a Wall Street Journal report (paywalled) Apple is in negotiations with media companies to develop an online TV service. The service will include a bundle of roughly 25 channels, so less popular channels will have a very difficult time fighting for a spot. Most major networks should be present, although NBC's participation is dubious because of its ties to Comcast, which would be in direct competition with Apple's service. "If Apple can offer a comprehensive, albeit slimmed-down, bundle for $30 to $40 a month, that could force distributors to cut prices or eat into margins to retain subscribers. At Comcast, for example, average video revenue per user should be about $79.45 in 2015, according to UBS. Meanwhile, its programming costs per average subscriber should be about $39.60. Those costs may need to rise. That roughly 50% gross margin looks vulnerable."

5 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Gonna be like the ipod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    even though streaming video services have been around for years and years, apple will enter the market & suddenly everybody will be "WOW look!!! Apple invented streaming video! Amazing!"

    1. Re:Gonna be like the ipod by NoKaOi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      even though streaming video services have been around for years and years, apple will enter the market & suddenly everybody will be "WOW look!!! Apple invented streaming video! Amazing!"

      Apple essentially invented a new market, just like Starbucks did. Were MP3 players (and expensive espresso drinks) available before that? Yes. Could you download music before that? Yes. What Apple did that wasn't so readily available before was made a device that could hold tons of music and had the market power to negotiate contracts to make music available for purchase on iTunes. Apple (and Starbucks) made their market readily available to the masses - whether it being available to the masses is a matter of perception or of a superior, easier to use product is irrelevant, what matters to the market is whether or not people are actually buying it.

      The streaming video market is already pretty big and available to the masses through Netflix and Hulu. What's not so available to the masses is being able to stream the major networks in "real time" (which really means not having to wait a day to watch a new episode on Hulu). Sure, there are options, but those options are not so readily available to the masses - again, whether it's perception or a difficulty of use for non-geeks is irrelevant, what matters to the market is whether people are actually doing it. People hang on to cable either because (1)Hulu/Nextflix doesn't offer them what they want, or because (2) they're afraid of change. For group #1, offer them what they want and make it easy to obtain (and cheaper than cable) and people will go for it.

      And people don't want to spend hours and hours figuring out new shit (or driving more than 3 blocks to a coffee shop), which is part of making things available to the masses.

    2. Re:Gonna be like the ipod by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Comparing the first mp3 player that was even pre-USB to Apple devices is not really valid.

      The USB player I had at the time that the iPod came out was way easier to use. The player I had you could plug into any computer and simply copy a file. With the iPod, I needed to start iTunes, get the music into my iTunes library, and go through all kinds of options to sync. Furthermore, I had to have a dedicated system to sync from even though I use multiple systems, and I couldn't just copy any file and use it as a flash drive, I had to copy a compatible file that iTunes would recognize such as an mp3 or mp4 etc.

      I don't know if it is still like that today, but I like the freedom of doing a plug in and copy with no application required.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  2. Bundle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When, o Lord, when, will they finally understand.

    I do not want a "bundle" of preselected crap.

    I want to choose my own crap, ala carte. If I only want ONE piece of crap, then that's all I'm going to buy from you: ONE piece of crap. I want to be able to stream my crap anywhere, any time, to any crappy device (which by the way I probably bought at one of your crowded crappy crap stores in a crappy mall).

    Oh, and since I am PAYING YOU to provide me with this service, I will not suffer through even one crappy advertisement while I watch my crap. NOT.EVEN.ONE.

    I will gleefully ignore any/all crap services that do not perform to my exact specifications.

  3. Re:Oh Look by sexconker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This shit has been rumored ever since the introduction of the first Apple TV. It will at some point finally come to fruition, but it's about as newsworthy as saying the sun will come up at some point in the next 24 hours.