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Apple Might Launch Its Long-Awaited TV Service In First Half of 2019 (theverge.com)

Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer that the company will announce new "services" this year, suggesting that Apple might be planning to launch its long-awaited TV service in the first half of 2019. "While Cook didn't say what kind of services -- Cramer was asking whether Apple had any tricks up its services sleeve, including healthcare or mobile payments -- it's the long-awaited TV service that has recently seen all the pieces fall into place," notes The Verge. From the report: Here at CES 2019, there's been a series of surprise announcements from TV manufacturers that are suddenly supporting Apple's AirPlay 2 and HomeKit features to allow you to cast content directly from your iPhone, iPad and Mac -- including TVs running rival operating systems from Google and Samsung. New TVs from rival Samsung will actually support iTunes, too, letting you access your movies and TV shows there as well. It wouldn't be a stretch to think Apple might be priming the pump with those hardware manufacturers for the upcoming TV service, too.

Then, there's content: We reported last June how Apple has been spending over $1 billion on original TV content with no obvious place for users to watch it. Another report suggested that some of those original shows were slated to debut as soon as this March. And another still claimed that those shows might be free for people who own Apple devices. But even if the TV service is one of the "services" Cook mentioned, it's not clear what other services Apple might be talking about.

33 comments

  1. Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by bogaboga · · Score: 0

    ...Apple might be planning to launch its long-awaited TV service in the first half of 2019...

    From the way Apple has "messed up" traditional messaging on smart phones (read inter-operability), I will save myself the headache of having to deal with the same mess on television.

    Sorry Apple, I will take a PASS on this.

    1. Re: Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly what I was thinking. This is like Microsoft trying to get into the mobile market. Unless they did a merger with Disney this is a shitty move.

    2. Re:Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll be all over it like stink on a monkey

      Dr Jobs had some very incisive thoughts on streaming TV before his untimely passing and I can't wait to see Apple's execution of this new product. Like the original iPhone itself, it will probably be a game changer, leaving us with two worlds: pre-iPhone and post-iPhone, and now: pre-ATV and post-ATV

    3. Re:Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have NEVER had any issues with messaging between my iPhone and anyone else.

      However I too will NOT be an Apple TV customer, but then again based on Apples history I doubt it will ever arrive in New Zealand anyway.

      Netflix works for me, I am happy to pay Netflix each month, and I do NOT want or need multiple subscriptions.

      Got my first Raspberry Pi this week, my journey to Linux has started

    4. Re: Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly! Who needs Apple TV???

      Note that I still think that Apple makes great products although...

      I still use my iPhone 6s and reduce my monthly bill from $80 to $50. As a phone and a video camera, the iPhone 6s isn't obsolete and I use it to make my videos on youtube. As a Sprint very special customer for 20+ years, Sprint will always give me a new iPhone for free if I decide to stop using the 6s as a phone in the next several years.

      But Santa brough me a Panasonic HC-V180K camcorder for Christmas to replace my iPhone 6s for recording #YouTube videos.

      My PC has an eight-core processor and a Nvidia 1050 Ti 4GB video card. A minute of 1080p video renedered on the processor takes a minute. A minute of 1080p video renedered on the Nvidia card takes 10 seconds. I don't think an iPad has the same performance of my PC for renedering videos longer than a short clip.

      I can't imagine using Photoshop without a keyboard and mouse, or not being able to access my files from my file server. Video renedering on the iPad will probably suck donkey balls.

      Blackmagic also charges high prices for their gear as Apple does. Need an HDMI to USB3 capture device? Blackmagic is $300. Any generic company is $50.

      I have a hearing loss in one ear, so my audio will always be suspect. I use a Zoom H2 audio recorder with a pop filter 12" away from my mouth, Audacity to clean up and normalize the audio, and sync the audio to the video and apply a "voice enhancement" eq to the audio in the video editor.

      Bonus: get some silver coins, view recommendations on my special Youtube channel dedicated to the topic! They constitute a fail-safe insurance strategy for your retirement!
      --
      Rocketman - Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan - William Shatner Trailer

    5. Re:Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by bobm · · Score: 1

      And Apple _might_ NOT be planning to launch, so this is geek news because?

      I like me 5SE and I hope that the phone downturn gets them to get back to a phone with that form factor again, Sadly I'm not holding my breath for that.

    6. Re:Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, I stopped at the SE because everything after that is just too big.
      When my SE finally dies, unless Apple has something in that size I will be heading to Android.
      And because I don't think Apple will ever produce a phone that size again, I am starting my pull away from the Apple Ecosystem so I have greater freedom to choose where I will go next.

    7. Re:Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too little, too late. ANOTHER streaming package to pay for?

      Fuuuuuck yoooou.

    8. Re:Apple can rest assured: I will not bite... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...Apple might be planning to launch its long-awaited TV service in the first half of 2019...

      From the way Apple has "messed up" traditional messaging on smart phones (read inter-operability), I will save myself the headache of having to deal with the same mess on television.

      Sorry Apple, I will take a PASS on this.

      That's because you're cheap and suspicious. It's not going to be a cheap service and would look like Apple Music where you get everything at a better price than anyone else is providing it. At $100/month, I use the highest tier of DirecTV Now, with my Hulu, Netflix, and Shudder subscriptions (at their respective fees) and get most everything from less-greedy companies for about the same price as "most of what they think you want to watch".

      Apple didn't mess anything up, even your head. SMS was insecure and Messages isn't; facetime is based on open standards, no one wants to play ball, don't call that Apple's fault.

      Now what I WOULD be interested in is an Apple Cell service, where they use both the Verizon & AT&T network with the newer phones that support both. We'd finally have ONE 'provider' that provides what the Europeans would call a "decent" level of coverage.

  2. Long Awaited? by sexconker · · Score: 1

    The only ones awaiting this are those who have been saying it was "coming soon" for the last decade.
    Like a stopped clock, it looks like they may finally be right.

    But who actually cares? The best deal in for-pay TV was the $30 deal on PlayStation Vue a year or two ago. DirecTV tried something similar, but it was trash in execution and lineup and features. Maybe it got better, but when they refused to honor their 7 day free trial, I put them on the shit list and will never so much as look at them again. (Yes, I got my money back. The FTC helped when Chase wouldn't. Chase and its outsourced 3rd world "support" staff who refuse to even read a damned ticket can eat my ass.)

    Google is never going to accomplish anything meaningful in this arena, and Hulu is crap with ads, or crap without ads for even more money. (Do they still have this option?) It's too late for new services to get in on the action, as everyone but broadcast is splintering off into their own services. Fucking DC has its own streaming service for fuck's sake! And let's be real - if you're the kind of fool who like their live action shit you're the kind of fool who's paying for cable/satellite to watch The CW (which you could get for free via your local affiliate). The only reason anyone should look at DC's streaming platform is Young Justice season 3, and DC knows it. That's why they're drip feeding season 3 AND splitting it into 2 parts. But hey - TPB is still cheaper, as are all the "apps" that reach out to sites to ind streaming sources for that shit.

    1. Re:Long Awaited? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      The only ones awaiting this are those who have been saying it was "coming soon" for the last decade.

      Agreed. I’m fairly invested in the Apple ecosystem, but I don’t know anyone clamoring for an Apple TV service.

      3, 5, or 10 years ago? Sure, it would have been great to snap the cable industry’s back with something different. These days, however? They’re already falling apart. They’re hemorrhaging customers by the millions every year. Earlier this week, in less than an hour, with no prior experience, and without looking up any guides or manuals, I put up an antenna in our attic and had it working with our Plex server. We can now stream live TV to any of our devices or record it for later, no subscription to any service necessary.

      The options available today are cheap and easy. The cable industry lock-in is gone. There’s no need for an Apple solution, nor am I convinced that they have anything to bring to the table. I doubt that any of their original content will actually be worth viewing in the immediate future, and the user experience for much of this stuff is already more than good enough.

  3. And in other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) has announced a new consumer PC, the DEC Rainbow 3Q, the sequel to the popular DEC Rainbow. The model number 3Q refers to the size of the devices RAM, which is 3 Quadrillion Bytes (prefix unknown). It will be priced just above the Apple Mac Pro, at $60,500.00 for the base model.

  4. "long awaited" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's hilarious! Am I wrong? Raise your hand if you've been looking forward to Yet Another proprietary streaming service. "The problem with proprietary streaming services is that there aren't enough of them," said ... who? Not a customer, I'll bet.

    1. Re:"long awaited" by bobstreo · · Score: 1

      That's hilarious! Am I wrong? Raise your hand if you've been looking forward to Yet Another proprietary streaming service. "The problem with proprietary streaming services is that there aren't enough of them," said ... who? Not a customer, I'll bet.

      Yeah, it might be nice to be able to cast to a supported TV if someone came over and wanted to show some photos or videos, if I had such a TV.

      The pain and aggravation it took at a recent gathering to just connect an iPhone to an older Samsung TV to show some pictures was kind of a nightmare.

    2. Re: "long awaited" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think this is terrible. Competitors can breathe easy

    3. Re:"long awaited" by msauve · · Score: 1

      "The pain and aggravation it took at a recent gathering to just connect an iPhone to an older Samsung TV to show some pictures was kind of a nightmare."

      I agree. It's no more difficult to set up a screen and slide projector. This is the progress we've made in 50 years?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    4. Re:"long awaited" by bobstreo · · Score: 2

      "The pain and aggravation it took at a recent gathering to just connect an iPhone to an older Samsung TV to show some pictures was kind of a nightmare."

      I agree. It's no more difficult to set up a screen and slide projector. This is the progress we've made in 50 years?

      In a non-apple environment, I could open a browser pointed at the pictures, and use Chromecast to the TV.

      At my house I could copy the images to my NAS and use kodi or something to display the images.

    5. Re:"long awaited" by msauve · · Score: 1

      So, "Chromecast" - Google vs Apple? That's a real counterpoint?

      Miracast is at least an "industry standard", albeit not open, instead of being completely proprietary.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. Free? by msauve · · Score: 1

    "claimed that those shows might be free for people who own Apple devices."

    A new meaning of "free", because it will be neither "gratis" nor "libre."

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  6. One button to turn on one channel by elrous0 · · Score: 1

    Where one hipster tells you 24/7 how much better you are than everyone else because you own an Apple.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:One button to turn on one channel by tsa · · Score: 1

      Oh stop it. That 'joke' is so old it isn't even remotely funny anymore.

      --

      -- Cheers!

  7. OMG OMG OMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it took a while but finally apple will do TV right.
    They have finally cracked it!!

  8. Might but... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    might not. (Psst... this isn't news)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  9. Cable strangehold by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    Most everything that offers broadband to your home comes with TV service bundled. And it actually costs more to not get the TV service. I can't understand how these services expect to compete. The Koolaide is delicious, but asking people to pay $30 / month for something they already have?

    1. Re:Cable strangehold by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      and the CAP makes the cable TV service all that much better.

    2. Re:Cable strangehold by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not everyone has or uses TV service. I wager (in Europe at least) some people have TV service over DSL, but didn't plug the ISP's set top box into a TV (sometimes it's the same device that contains the modem and the router, sometimes it's separate). Some people have no TV! That was far less common 15 years ago when everyone at least had a 14" CRT in a corner and laptops were too expensive yet. Some people just don't want to bother plugging the thing in maybe, esp. if the phone plug and the antenna plug are far apart.

      The real reason I don't use ISP provided TV is : I want to navigate to 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 and get the TV feed there, in the browser or in VLC. Nothing more, nothing less and I don't need a spying app or ads since they already know what streams they're sending me and the TV programs already have ads. But that could make recording and sharing too easy, or routing the TV channels outside your home, or anything. Though I wouldn't mind if they do like Netflix and stream ~480p because I'm using an "unauthorized device".

    3. Re:Cable strangehold by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Most everything that offers broadband to your home comes with TV service bundled. And it actually costs more to not get the TV service. I can't understand how these services expect to compete. The Koolaide is delicious, but asking people to pay $30 / month for something they already have?

      It really depends on the type of service. In some cases, you can bundle TV and cable for less for lower teired speeds the bundle eliminates the data cap. However, at higher tiers there is no cap and the cost of internet alone is equal to the cost of lower speed internet plus basic TV. If you add in TV the costs are about equal for TV + Internet or Internet plus streaming service. One advantage of the later is one box to handle TV plus NAS stored content and additional streaming apps instead of 2 boxes and remotes; as well as the ablity to watch shows remotely via a phone or tablet; all without additional outlet fees.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  10. Foundation by Camembert · · Score: 1

    I read that one of the series being developed for Apple is an adaptation of Asimov's Foundation books.
    Would be curious to try it.
    Esp, if the rumour is true that initially it would be free for Apple device owners, then at worst I lose an hour of time if the first episode is bad.

  11. All hail apples SJW channel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just what I have been yearning for bland nerfed âoefamily friendlyâ content designed to not offend anyone. What Iâ(TM)m really wanting is a streaming service with the balls to tell these SJW and metoo cunts to fuck off and produces family hostile shows starting with a multi season space epic with the complexity of game of thrones directed by quentin tarantino.

  12. PASS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is a big thumbs down.

  13. The problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's the problem. If it's only available on Apple TV devices, it is doomed. Period.

  14. TV not Service by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

    People were waiting for Apple to come out with a TV, not a TV Service. No one fucking cares about ANOTHER streaming TV Service. It was all about the hardware. People thought Apple would do to TV what they did to MP3 players, tablets and cell phones.

    I understand Apple wants to rebrand its self as a SERVICE company and not a HARDWARE company but this is revisionist history.

  15. Apple TV? What are going to be the subjects? by laxr5rs · · Score: 1

    Is it going to focus on hipsters everywhere, 24/7?