Apple Reportedly Working On an Online TV Service

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."

Comments

Gonna be like the ipod

[Anonymous Coward]

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!"

Re:Gonna be like the ipod

[NoKaOi]

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.

Re:Gonna be like the ipod

[Applehu Akbar]

The idea of streaming may have been around for years, but the implementation sucks donkeys. I live in a rural area where I get my big-city broadcast channels through a major nationwide cable provider. If I miss an episode of something on broadcast, I can sometimes catch it after the next day or two on streaming, except when it's on one of the networks where I have to wait 8 days for no particular reason, meaning that before I can see my missed episode I have to wait until the day after next week's episode, or when it's on "verify my provider" and my cable company is never one of the six or eight you can choose from. That's if I'm lucky, of course, for some programs are just not available on streaming at all. For non-br0adcast channels that are carried by my cable company, I should be able to stream catchup episodes by logging in with my provider, right? So why is there still only a tiny list of verifiable providers that seldom includes my own?

What Apple can bring to a mess like this is a markedly better user interface. Because I pay for cable programming with transmission fees, and for OTA content wit commercials and retransmission fees, I have every right to view the content after scheduled broadcast. That's why I torrent everything they won't give me my rightful open access to. What I would like to see Apple do is just buy a vertical slice of about a third of Hollywood and force a unified access paradigm onto it. Make it easy to get BS-free access to the corresponding slice of total content, and viewers will find it so much easier to watch their chosen content that the rest of the industry will have to fall into line.

Re:Gonna be like the ipod

[Anonymous Coward]

itunes is by far the most difficult method ive ever tried to use to put mp3s onto an mp3 player.

All the rest of them just show up as a drive letter & you just drop files into them.

Re:Gonna be like the ipod

[fluffernutter]

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.

Re:Gonna be like the ipod

[Streetlight]

Yes, broadcast network shows are everywhere. They're even free on TVs attached to an antenna, provided the antenna can see the signals.

Bundle

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Bundle

[jedidiah]

The only one committing a logical fallacy is YOU.

He is not comparing this new Apple nonsense to some unobtainable ideal. He's comparing it to what he can already use TODAY.

I guess that makes your argument a false strawman.

He can use a plethora of streaming options that already constitute "Nirvana". He could also use well established PVR technology.

The ads really are a showstopper. I think the last time I had to sit through cable ads was back before Steve Jobs returned to Apple.

Re:Oh Look

[sexconker]

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.

Very true

[SuperKendall]

I'm planning to get HBO. It's a little expensive but I like some shows they have now, and they have a good back-catalog.

The Apple package I'm pretty dubious about though, partly because it's anchored by broadcast networks I never watch, party because as you say - package.

I'm still hoping that when it comes out there's some non-bundle kind of deal for individual channels, even if more expensive... let networks sink or swim based on their own efforts, not riding on the coat-tails of the popular.

First work on a decent TV box

[iamacat]

Current one is 5 years old. No stick form factor, no 4K or 3D, no Siri, no Facetime, no HDMI-CEC, no apps/games, AirPlay drains mobile device battery life. To really generate excitement Apple would need to release something ahead of the times to makes us forget they churned out the same lame box for last 5 years.

Re:Buying in on day one

[Lumpy]

Sadly you will stick with Comcast because you have no other choice for broadband internet.