U.S. Cable Companies Reportedly Assessing Potential Infrastructure Impact of 'Imminent' Apple TV Product

[Hakone]

I hope it's thin!

But that would imply friction wielding which takes so much time that it may delay a product by a quarter!

 

[louis Fashion]

U say al la carte I say al la mode

Unless APPL kills the bundle, I don't care.
I want my 6 subscription channels.
I do not want to pay for all the other crap.

 

[coolspot18]

Is Apple going to tempt users to upgrade their TVs every couple of years? Because I think most people consider their TVs to be an appliance and use them at least for 5 - 10 years+...

 

[Zeldain]

Am I dreaming this or was there talk of subsidized TVs? i.e. you buy an Apple TV and commit to a programming carrier for 2 years...

Would be neat, but wouldn't lend itself to the a la cart programming so many are expecting... unless it would

 

[Allenbf]

Not really sure I want to see Donald Trump/Celebrity Apprentice in RETINA...

 

[Popeye206]

But that would imply friction wielding which takes so much time that it may delay a product by a quarter!

That's the process when it's "incredibly thin".... I'm just hoping for "thin".

 

[coolspot18]

The best part is that it's absolutely free to watch online. The BBC are funded by a license to watch programmes as they're broadcast, but shows from the last 30 days on iPlayer are absolutely free.

By the way: I don't mean to trash America per se, just the tight grip of the media companies there who stifle innovation. The demand for an "a la carte" model of TV shows that American consumers won't be fooled, and that's good. I hope they'll be able to bring about some change. And get rid of Fox News (it's embarrassing).

I don't watch any broadcast American TV shows ... but there are some good stuff on the specialty channels.

Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Walking Dead, Arrow... American TV does have good stuff, but yes, I agree, it's filled with a lot of crap too.

 

[yoak]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Barron's reports on a new research note from Jefferies & Co. analyst James Kisner noting that he believes the launch of an unspecified Apple television product (presumably either a new set-top box or a connected television) is "imminent". Kisner's belief comes from information he has received indicating that at least one major U.S. cable company is assessing the potential impact on its network infrastructure from such a device.Kisner's research note is actually addressing the impact on ARRIS, a major communications technology that handles much of the network infrastructure for U.S. cable companies, most notably Comcast. Kisner believes that a forthcoming Apple television product would bode well for ARRIS, as it would force cable companies to increase their network capacity to handle such demands as on-demand HD streams from users of the new Apple product.

Image​

Rumors of an Apple television set peaked approximately a year ago with Steve Jobs having briefly addressed the topic for Walter Isaacson's authorized biography published shortly after Jobs' death. At the time, follow-up rumors suggested that the set could be announced in late 2012 ahead of an early 2013 launch, but talk of such a product has quieted down in recent months amid reports of difficult content negotiations.

Article Link: U.S. Cable Companies Reportedly Assessing Potential Infrastructure Impact of 'Imminent' Apple TV Product

Or could it be because of this
http://www.red.com/products/red-ray
4K player and RED are saying they have a deal with some content distribution provider

This is what I'm getting, by by crappy iTunes HD quality ( at least I hope)

PS the provider is not Apple or Amazon, RED said as much

 

[Konrad9]

I want time shifting.

I want to be able to watch any show I want. At anytime. Anywhere.

I don't want to have to subscribe to cable for this very reason — television companies hate time shifting. They want you to watch TV on their schedule.

I want to subscribe to channels on an a la carte basis. I want to pay a couple bucks per month for an ESPN "app" and a couple others, through my Apple ID. I then want to watch the content live or on-demand, my choice. None of those "package deals" crap. I don't need to pay for 300+ channels I don't watch.

This is the future. Hopefully Apple brings it.

Frankly I'd prefer if a non-hardware company brought this to market, I don't want it limited to any brand of devices.

 

[Rogifan]

Since Jony Ive is now overseeing Human Interface maybe he and Eddy Cue have some big plans regarding Apple TV? Eddy working on the content side and Jony on the interface? A girl can dream, can't she?

 

[aliensporebomb]

So....

I got to look at one of these things at the prototype stage.

I told Steve that I thought the browser wasn't snappy enough.

He told me I was watching it wrong.

OK, I kid, I kid.

 

[Rogifan]

I want time shifting.

I want to be able to watch any show I want. At anytime. Anywhere.

I don't want to have to subscribe to cable for this very reason — television companies hate time shifting. They want you to watch TV on their schedule.

I want to subscribe to channels on an a la carte basis. I want to pay a couple bucks per month for an ESPN "app" and a couple others, through my Apple ID. I then want to watch the content live or on-demand, my choice. None of those "package deals" crap. I don't need to pay for 300+ channels I don't watch.

This is the future. Hopefully Apple brings it.

Good luck getting a cheap ala cart option.

 

[Zeldain]

Or could it be because of this
http://www.red.com/products/red-ray
4K player and RED are saying they have a deal with some content distribution provider

This is what I'm getting, by by crappy iTunes HD quality ( at least I hope)

PS the provider is not Apple or Amazon, RED said as much

That resolution is unnecessary. What we need is uncompressed transport.

 

[carmenodie]

Now we know why Apple's stock has been tanking.
Talk about rigging the system.

 

[xofruitcake]

iPhone - 13.9% of the smart phone market (Q3 numbers)
iPad - 60% (and falling fast)
OS/X - around 6% (Worldwide)
TV - 0%

Should content providers really care?

yap.. content providers should care a lot. Apple device users are the one that is willing to spend money as a group.. There are nth study in term of web usage, to buying habit etc etc. that should Apple user are the group of consumer that everyone need to focus on. You have to follow the money trail and not volume trail to find out which device you want to focus.

 

[Nova Sensei]

Can somebody please mock-up a less crappy looking television? It looks like a cheap Korean knock-off. A site dedicated to Apple products should be embarrassed to have that on it's front page.

 

[crackbookpro]

We haven't heard anything from Apple about the pricing structure of a future TV subscription or anything like that.

It's not Apple who knows that it's time to break these stupid bundle packages - it's the customers. Customers don't want 100000000 channels they'll never watch bundled with the handful that they do.

Europe is a million years ahead of the US when it comes to television.

American TV is all about tacky commercialism - the obscene numbers of channels (again, where most of them don't really deserve their own channel), the incredible number and duration of advertisements, not to mention direct marketing of prescription drugs to consumers (I was absolutely shocked by this when I first visited). There are occasionally some good series that come on the major networks, with some impressive computer graphics, but in a package of 999 channels or more, that's a tiny fraction of what you're paying for.

On the other hand, the BBC produces approximately one hundred thousand times better quality shows at a fraction of the cost. With no ads, and without any of the blatant media bias you get in the US (two great examples: the way Top Gear can afford to slate anybody they like because they have no commercial sponsors; and the investigative work they did on uncovering some of the administrative failings of upper BBC management in dealing with a certain child abuser. No US network would have the balls to do either of those things).

The best part is that it's absolutely free to watch online. The BBC are funded by a license to watch programmes as they're broadcast, but shows from the last 30 days on iPlayer are absolutely free.

By the way: I don't mean to trash America per se, just the tight grip of the media companies there who stifle innovation. The demand for an "a la carte" model of TV shows that American consumers won't be fooled, and that's good. I hope they'll be able to bring about some change. And get rid of Fox News (it's embarrassing).

The mere point I'm trying to unleash to everyone is - Apple will only do what Apple does best. And, that is innovate products or even create markets entirely through their own business model of 'profits by margins'.

To fully understand the above paragraph, will give way into part of the reason why Apple has not made a TV, because they have not, and fundamentally will not, release an iTV till the market is ready for it.

Only thing standing in Apple's way is - the cable co's & the universal data speeds coexisting with the cable co's. The iTV will be a bandwidth hog, and the cable co's know it, and they know Apple will have its own sales ecosystem within the iTV.

Once again, the Cable Co's are Apple's biggest enemy. Apple has to make negotiations with them, or they have to wait till the universal data speeds are so high, the market is just there to be had for an iTV, but that may be in years time nonetheless.

I'll say this... there will be an iTV by at least 2020 because of the market readiness that I'm guessing will be available, but hopefully the consumer sees one in the next 2-4 years realistically.

 

[linuxcooldude]

We haven't heard anything from Apple about the pricing structure of a future TV subscription or anything like that.

It's not Apple who knows that it's time to break these stupid bundle packages - it's the customers. Customers don't want 100000000 channels they'll never watch bundled with the handful that they do.

Europe is a million years ahead of the US when it comes to television.

American TV is all about tacky commercialism - the obscene numbers of channels (again, where most of them don't really deserve their own channel), the incredible number and duration of advertisements, not to mention direct marketing of prescription drugs to consumers (I was absolutely shocked by this when I first visited). There are occasionally some good series that come on the major networks, with some impressive computer graphics, but in a package of 999 channels or more, that's a tiny fraction of what you're paying for.

On the other hand, the BBC produces approximately one hundred thousand times better quality shows at a fraction of the cost. With no ads, and without any of the blatant media bias you get in the US (two great examples: the way Top Gear can afford to slate anybody they like because they have no commercial sponsors; and the investigative work they did on uncovering some of the administrative failings of upper BBC management in dealing with a certain child abuser. No US network would have the balls to do either of those things).

The best part is that it's absolutely free to watch online. The BBC are funded by a license to watch programmes as they're broadcast, but shows from the last 30 days on iPlayer are absolutely free.

By the way: I don't mean to trash America per se, just the tight grip of the media companies there who stifle innovation. The demand for an "a la carte" model of TV shows that American consumers won't be fooled, and that's good. I hope they'll be able to bring about some change. And get rid of Fox News (it's embarrassing).

Then again the BBC has its own set of problems. I have friends over the UK who absolutely hate the TV licensing scheme. Even if you don't own a TV you still have to pay for a TV licence if you have a PC or Cell phone. It was an ongoing joke between me & my UK friends on how almost anything would require you get a TV licence.

So its not a matter of which is better, rather pick your poison, because you will get screwed one way or another.

 

[ifij775]

interface

Anyone who has used a FIOS channel tuner would buy Apple's box in a heartbeat. I don't know what it will be like, but it couldn't possibly be worse than what they have. While Apple is at it, they should mandate HD. No one wants SD video anymore.

 

[Vitrum]

32inch and you will love it !

 

[Ubele]

Given the current state of product updates, what are they going to release in the Spring?

The Kraken?

 

[Saladinos]

Then again the BBC has its own set of problems. I have friends over the UK who absolutely hate the TV licensing scheme. Even if you don't own a TV you still have to pay for a TV licence if you have a PC or Cell phone. It was an ongoing joke between me & my UK friends on how almost anything would require you get a TV licence.

So its not a matter of which is better, rather pick your poison, because you will get screwed one way or another.

You need a license to watch as they're being broadcast. Whichever device. As soon as the programme's stopped being broadcast, it's totally free even without a license. I think timeshifting also technically circumvents the requirement.

They've got such a problem enforcing it (because there's literally no way to tell - it's broadcast OTA), they tend to just send hundreds of letters everywhere hoping to scare people who don't have one that they can actually tell. They're also not the police; they have no right to enter your home if you don't let them in.

You can still buy a black & white TV license. They've got so many problems getting people to pay at all that nobody is ever going to check

That said, the BBC is still tremendous value for money. Much better value than competitive services abroad, IMO. Everyone should have their own BBC.

 

[lilo777]

Can somebody please mock-up a less crappy looking television? It looks like a cheap Korean knock-off. A site dedicated to Apple products should be embarrassed to have that on it's front page.

Get with the times.American TVs (Vizio) are cheap knock-offs of Korean TVs (Samsung).

 

[coder12]

Apple left a rather large hole in their release schedule when they moved iPads to Fall (assuming they keep a yearly release cycle from here on out).

Old Schedule:
Spring: iPads
Summer: Macs
Fall: iPhone

New Schedule:
Spring: ?
Summer: OS X & Devices
Fall: iOS & Devices

Given the current state of product updates, what are they going to release in the Spring?

<Queue rampant speculation>

Didn't Tim Cook say Q1 Mac Pro updates in 2013?

 

[iluvipads]

Apple left a rather large hole in their release schedule when they moved iPads to Fall (assuming they keep a yearly release cycle from here on out).

Old Schedule:
Spring: iPads
Summer: Macs
Fall: iPhone

New Schedule:
Spring: ?
Summer: OS X & Devices
Fall: iOS & Devices

Given the current state of product updates, what are they going to release in the Spring?

<Queue rampant speculation>

I'm not convinced Apple will release a TV, but I expect a significant update to the current Apple TV. This could certainly fill the void in the first half of 2013.

Adding 3rd party apps, content deals and updated hardware / remote could be worthy of a special event. It's only a matter of time before Apple makes a stronger push for television and the timing would be perfect for a Spring unveil.

http://iostv.com