Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,300
30,396



Disney is one of the partners Apple is working with on its upcoming streaming television service, and according to a new report from The Street, Disney and Apple are disagreeing over how many Disney-owned channels will be available in Apple's television content bundle.

Disney is pushing Apple to include most of its channel offerings, while Apple wants to offer fewer channels in an effort to keep prices lower. Disney's channels include ESPN and Disney Channel, along with several spinoffs channels like Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, and more. Disney also owns ABC channels that Apple feels are essential, like ABC Family, so Apple may be forced to agree to offer more Disney channels to ensure negotiations go smoothly.

appletv-800x550.jpg
Disney is said to be asking for "the strongest deal it can get," according to one of The Street's sources, to avoid upsetting other cable providers and endangering existing revenue streams.
Disney likely would insist that Apple offer all of its channels to as many subscribers as possible. Many cable operators have "most favored nation" clauses in their contracts with Disney that could require ESPN to be carried as widely as possible. If Apple enabled its subscribers to pick and choose which channels to take, other cable channels could use that clause to cut back on lesser watched Disney channels.
Disney CEO Bob Iger sits on Apple's board of directors and was a longtime friend of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and the two companies have worked together several times over the years. Disney was the first company to partner with Apple to offer content like television shows through iTunes in 2005. Despite the disagreement over the number of Disney channels to be included in Apple's television service, The Street suggests that Disney is likely to remain one of Apple's content partners.

Apple is planning to announce its streaming television service and its content partners at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, ahead of a fall launch. Rumors have suggested the service will include approximately 25 channels and will be offered at a price between $30 and $40.

Apple's television service announcement may also be accompanied by the launch of a new Apple TV set top box, which is said to be in the works. The set-top box is rumored to include a full App Store, Siri integration, an A8 processor, and a dramatic increase in internal storage.

Article Link: Disney, Apple Arguing Over Channels to Be Included in New Streaming Television Service
 

bpeeps

Suspended
May 6, 2011
3,678
4,629
Arguing? Debate sounds more professional, MacRumors. But get those clicks!
 

Jakewilk

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2014
391
885
I can imagine it would be odd to have eight disney associated channels out of a total of thrity or fourty. As far as design goes, three ESPN channels would be somewhat un-apple like
 

LostLib

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2012
15
4
We don't need an apple branded cable consolidator.

We have plenty of "cable consolidators" already. Since I don't watch sports, if it must include ESPN, then I won't buy it - I shouldn't have to pay an extra $10. Sports fans should be able to subscribe to what they want - ESPN or whatnot, and shouldn't be excluded just because I'm not interested. Lets see some competition, not more of the same.
 

oneMadRssn

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,961
13,939
Anything over $10/month with commercials, or $20/month without commercials, is a total non-starter for me. The only way to convince me otherwise is to add lots of functionality that isn't included in a basic cable stream.

For example, I pay more than $20/month for MLB.tv because it allows watching every game, home feed or away feed, with any audio feed overlayed, radio streams, and tons of other unique features that you can't get with your average local sports channel. Those are value-added features.
 

Marlor

macrumors regular
Jun 21, 2005
233
65
Does anyone actually watch "channels" anymore?

Personally, I just watch content. I really have no interest in live, streaming TV that forces you to watch certain content at certain times of the day. That's a medium that only made sense in the days of limited broadcast spectrum. It's nonsense when it comes to IP-based delivery.

The only time "channels" make sense is for sports. But even then, I'd prefer to just choose the game I want to watch, rather than trying to work out whether it's on "channel one" or "channel two", then having it cut off when it goes into overtime because a game deemed more important is starting.

Just license the content from Disney and scrap the whole "channel" idea. Channels made sense in the 1950s and 60s. They're a technological dead-end now.
 

uid15

Suspended
Mar 9, 2015
1,186
637
I'm sure Apple will box clever.
 

Attachments

  • legoboxer.PNG
    legoboxer.PNG
    21.1 KB · Views: 2,719

Bill Killer

macrumors 6502
Dec 29, 2011
495
98
I can imagine it would be odd to have eight disney associated channels out of a total of thrity or fourty. As far as design goes, three ESPN channels would be somewhat un-apple like

ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU are mandatory, in my eyes. Those three consistently show live sports.
 

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
2,567
Kassel, Germany
The Pirate Bay is already available to all who have an internet plan.

Move faster and find a good solution, piracy is a service problem for a big part.

Glassed Silver:mac
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,088
31,046
So is Apple's service basically going to be a skinnied down version of cable/satellite? Why can't someone come up with a viable model where people can choose what content they want? I watch Food Network and Cooking Channel a lot. But I know plenty of others who could care less about those two channels. Let people curate the channel lineup they want.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kazmac

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
So is Apple's service basically going to be a skinnied down version of cable/satellite? Why can't someone come up with a viable model where people can choose what content they want? I watch Food Network and Cooking Channel a lot. But I know plenty of others who could care less about those two channels. Let people curate the channel lineup they want.

Both already exist.

Apple already has the iTunes store in which people can choose commercial-free shows and has for years now. Problem: we don't want to pay for that; we want it dirt cheap.

DirecTV/Dish/others have services where you can hide all of the "useless" channels you don't want and only display the ones you do want in a "Favs" guide. This way the subsidy dollars made from commercials (including most of that subsidy made from commercials running on channels we never watch or while we sleep) keep contributing to the pot. Problem: we instead have this delusion that an Apple can plug in, offer us just the channels or shows we want for for a fraction of what we pay now. Nobody else- Apple included- is interested in turning that delusion into reality; they all want to make MORE money, not less in any "new model".

I'll guess that neither of those would be what you want and I'll further guess that what you want is closer to the usually-spun dream of "everything I want, commercial-free, for a tiny fraction of what I pay now". Problem: we're not going to get that.

If there's ever some kind of al-a-carte option other than what we have now in iTunes, I fully expect the math to work that we'll get our 10 favorite channels (or shows) for about 30% MORE than we can our 10 favorite channels + 190 channels "we never watch." And then we'll probably be clamoring for some kind of bundling with discounts and subsidies to try to get back to how it "used to be."
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,419
6,792
Channels are too greedy. Bundling is the thing I hate most about subscription TV and why I've turned to the internet for my shows.
 

scoobydoo99

Cancelled
Mar 11, 2003
1,007
353
Hey, come on now!! No ESPN Classic? You don't spend hours sitting around a TV watching Baseball from the 60's and 70's? ;)

oh, my. does such a thing really exist? lol. I'm picturing Kang and Kodos from Treehouse of Horror fast-forwarding a baseball game....."Faster!" "No, it's still boring, FASTER!"
 

DracoDWS

macrumors member
Aug 1, 2013
30
3
25 Channels huh? OK, let's see...

  1. ABC
  2. CBS
  3. FOX
  4. NBC
  5. CW
  6. Discovery
  7. AMC
  8. A&E
  9. FX
  10. TBS
  11. TNT
  12. USA
  13. Spike
  14. Animal Planet
  15. Food Network
  16. Travel Channel
  17. Science Channel
  18. History Channel
  19. TLC
  20. FYI
  21. National Geographic
  22. Nat Geo Wild
  23. CNN
  24. CNBC
  25. SyFy

Yeah, those would work for me.
 

26139

Suspended
Dec 27, 2003
4,315
377
Huh?

Isn't the issue of having too many channels that you don't want the entire point of uncoupling from cable?

----------

Yes, it's useless despite being #1 in cable ratings in 2014.

It's useless to many people and not being forced to carry channels you don't want is the entire point of this.

----------

We have plenty of "cable consolidators" already. Since I don't watch sports, if it must include ESPN, then I won't buy it - I shouldn't have to pay an extra $10. Sports fans should be able to subscribe to what they want - ESPN or whatnot, and shouldn't be excluded just because I'm not interested. Lets see some competition, not more of the same.

I like ESPN (well...sometimes) but I have no use for the kid-focused channels.

You might be the opposite.

But if we both can't get what we want, why bother with the hassle of no cable at all?

----------

Both already exist.

Apple already has the iTunes store in which people can choose commercial-free shows and has for years now. Problem: we don't want to pay for that; we want it dirt cheap.

DirecTV/Dish/others have services where you can hide all of the "useless" channels you don't want and only display the ones you do want in a "Favs" guide. This way the subsidy dollars made from commercials (including most of that subsidy made from commercials running on channels we never watch or while we sleep) keep contributing to the pot. Problem: we instead have this delusion that an Apple can plug in, offer us just the channels or shows we want for for a fraction of what we pay now. Nobody else- Apple included- is interested in turning that delusion into reality; they all want to make MORE money, not less in any "new model".

I'll guess that neither of those would be what you want and I'll further guess that what you want is closer to the usually-spun dream of "everything I want, commercial-free, for a tiny fraction of what I pay now". Problem: we're not going to get that.

If there's ever some kind of al-a-carte option other than what we have now in iTunes, I fully expect the math to work that we'll get our 10 favorite channels (or shows) for about 30% MORE than we can our 10 favorite channels + 190 channels "we never watch." And then we'll probably be clamoring for some kind of bundling with discounts and subsidies to try to get back to how it "used to be."

Exactly.

The only way to win this "game" is not to play at all.
 

apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
12,318
7,802
Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
This rumoured service is shaping up to be as expensive as a satellite package. Will it end up being offered with minimum term contracts as well?

Think they have a bit of a way to match Netflix and Amazon Prime et al idea of streaming media services. But we shall see.
 

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,779
41,982
USA
So is Apple's service basically going to be a skinnied down version of cable/satellite? Why can't someone come up with a viable model where people can choose what content they want? I watch Food Network and Cooking Channel a lot. But I know plenty of others who could care less about those two channels. Let people curate the channel lineup they want.

It seems that all this will be is an Apple curated cable package vs your cable co's cable package.

No interest.
 

Marlor

macrumors regular
Jun 21, 2005
233
65
Yes, it's useless despite being #1 in cable ratings in 2014.

Hence why "one size fits all" doesn't work...

Some people want sports.

Some people don't watch sports at all.

Some people are expats working in the US and only care about Cricket.

Let those people choose. The whole model of a limited selection of "channels" makes no sense in this day and age. It's a model suited to a time where content was delivered via the airwaves, and the country's interests were more homogeneous.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.