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Apple Planning to Launch Streaming TV Service Featuring ABC, CBS, Fox and More
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Honestly, it is just a matter of time before local affiliates radically transform or shut down their transmitters. Many of the current school age generation do not even know of their local television stations as they have little to no relevance in the mass video market. The biggest thing keeping program managers from moving to Internet streaming are the network affiliate contacts.
The future of local television is independent "stations" that add local value to wide distributed video streaming shows. Eventually, production companies will have their shows go viral streaming via services such as YouTube and others with recommendations made via bloggers and search engines.
While officially, ratings are not kept for late night television as much as prime time, late night programming has been hardest hit with the exception of television news programs. This is why there was such an amazing all angles promotion of Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary a few weeks ago. Their ratings have been hit very hard by streaming services such as NetFlix and YouTube.
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Wish I could give this + 1000. The ONLY reason why I haven't cut the cable cord yet is that I am a huge fan of my local baseball and hockey teams. Thanks to local blackouts on the MLB and NHL apps for the local teams I need to have cable to watch the games. When this changes I will gladly get rid of cable.
What Apple TV urgently needs is the 4K support and an improved AirPlay protocol (802.11ac could help as well here). AirPlay does work great for videos on iOS device, but needs improvement for live screen mirroring on a Mac and better connection stability. It happened frequently to me that during a meeting/presentation the connection just dropped completely. 
Rumor has it, the latest A8 can play 4k natively...
I wish there was also a stripped-down business version of Apple TV. From a business meeting perspective, you don't need anything else but a HDMI dongle with AirPlay ability (no shop, no menus, no consumer stuff at all: just AirPlay). Just make the new AirPlay dongle as thin and light as possible, dear Mr. Ive it would really make sense in this use case
Rumor has it, the latest A8 can play 4k natively...
I wish there was also a stripped-down business version of Apple TV. From a business meeting perspective, you don't need anything else but a HDMI dongle with AirPlay ability (no shop, no menus, no consumer stuff at all: just AirPlay). Just make the new AirPlay dongle as thin and light as possible, dear Mr. Ive it would really make sense in this use case
Data Caped at 150 GB. Some months I use close to that streaming Netflix and Roku channels.
Non starter for me.
Non starter for me.
I assume you can stream shows that have already shown, not just live.
But it seems pretty pricey to me too...
Gary
They do not, but their monthly cost is $20 and has AMC. So at least it's a lower price of entry. I'm hoping they'll do an NBC package for $5 and my life cord cutter wishes have come true.
$30-40 seems extremely expensive. Especially with most of the channels being available for free with an antenna. At that price I may as well just pay Time Warner for the full cable package.
By the time you buy this, Netflix, NBC/Comcast, maybe a couple other little things -- and after your ISP starts charging you more for all this new bandwidth you're consuming -- you're right back where you started at a hundred bucks a month. And you still don't have ESPN. Cord cutters are delusional in thinking you can fight City Hall. These guys are gonna get their money, period.
And I use DirecTV for the extra channels during the tennis and golf slams. I wouldn't give that up for anything. This sounds like Apple becoming a cable company. Yawn.
Cable + Internet runs me just over $100/month. If I ditch the cable and keep just the internet, I lose the bundle discount. So then my internet alone runs $60-70. Add the $30-40 subscription for this new service so I can "cut the cord", and I'm left with fewer channels, and have basically the same sort of on-demand options I have with cable.
I'm sorry, but until internet service pricing dips down to the sub-$20 range for 15Mbps or more, there's really not much appeal in these things. Especially when ISPs are implementing these soft bandwidth caps now.
I'm sorry, but until internet service pricing dips down to the sub-$20 range for 15Mbps or more, there's really not much appeal in these things. Especially when ISPs are implementing these soft bandwidth caps now.
And there's not much incentive for ISP's to drop their prices to allow Apple to make more money.
Let's look at this. This is not the À la carte option that everyone is thinking. This is the EXACT same thing as cable. You are paying for tiers, just like you do now with your cable (basic, advanced, or premium). So, really-- this isn't any different than cable or directTV, except you won't be able to record (NO HDD on AppleTV unit as of now).
What this SHOULD be is true À la carte.
Each channel is $2.00-$3.00/month, no minimums, packages only by channel (ESPN package, Starz Package, etc)
No contracts, pay monthly for what you want.
No "tiers"
No "ads"
This will give me my ESPN, HBO, Showtime, AMC, A&E, and Discovery for $12-$18.00 a month compared to $80-100+ via DirecTV/Cable.
What this SHOULD be is true À la carte.
Each channel is $2.00-$3.00/month, no minimums, packages only by channel (ESPN package, Starz Package, etc)
No contracts, pay monthly for what you want.
No "tiers"
No "ads"
This will give me my ESPN, HBO, Showtime, AMC, A&E, and Discovery for $12-$18.00 a month compared to $80-100+ via DirecTV/Cable.
SlingTv's worst nightmare
I just recently got rid of our Time Warner Cable service (keeping only the highest broadband internet). Signed up for SlingTv at $20 a month and have so far been happy with it.
If Apple offers a package that looks like this...
ABC
CBS
FX
ESPN
ESPN 2
Disney
Disney Junior
+ maybe any of the following TBS, TNT, HGTV, Food, ABC Family
For $30 bucks a month?... where do I sign up???
I just recently got rid of our Time Warner Cable service (keeping only the highest broadband internet). Signed up for SlingTv at $20 a month and have so far been happy with it.
If Apple offers a package that looks like this...
ABC
CBS
FX
ESPN
ESPN 2
Disney
Disney Junior
+ maybe any of the following TBS, TNT, HGTV, Food, ABC Family
For $30 bucks a month?... where do I sign up???
That's what Hulu is for if you want shows.. At 1/4 the price.
One of the main ideas behind cutting the cord is the ever increasing cost of cable subscription. Paying more for less is the exact opposite direction.