Apple Adds Major League Soccer and Disney Junior Channels to Apple TV

[weez999]

Maybe they can work something out with the NFL! I'd love to get Sunday Ticket on the Apple TV via subscription and not have to sign up for DirecTV

As a former employee of NFL Films, I can personally guarantee you that will not happen.

 

[MonkeySee....]

More US-only features... Great.

Can't be too hard to add content to other countries, surely?

 

[Spacejunc]

You can watch EPL games in the US....

I'd rather have an EPL channel with all the cup matches as well.

I would buy that in a heart beat!

GGMU!

The NBC sports app has all the EPL games for free and can airplay stream to your Apple TV.

YAY!

 

[kaldezar]

Another uk user

As a UK user I rarely go below the top line - Netflix & YouTube are the only ones I ever use and it drives me nuts that in Sept 2010 the Apple TV gen 2 device was touted as having BBC iPlayer 'soon' - three years later not a sign of it despite many other devices having that facility.
That said the Apple TV does what I originally bought it (and successors) for - play my audio & video from my iTunes library. It could just be so much better for non-US consumers.

Hi I sympathise but u can open a US iTunes account, and at least get the much larger collection of movies and tv shows that our American cousins get...Netflix subscription and iTunes rentals are cheaper too! All you need is a USA Credit card, a quick search will help you here and voila!!

 

[weez999]

Well that's great, but since I do not have a participating cable provider I cannot enjoy most of the updates.

I just don't understand the restrictions?

If you know anyone in your family or friends that has cable, simply get their log in for the cable web portal and you're all set. I've been doing that forever! Works like a charm and I only have to pay for Netflix to get the rest of what I want.

 

[appleii.c]

Go to restrictions and choose to hide or show each app. It's very simple, what is the problem?

This is great, but what if I WANT the channels, just want them grouped in a folder or something? This should be possible.

 

[kaldezar]

Where?

The NBC sports app has all the EPL games for free and can airplay stream to your Apple TV.

YAY!

Sounds great just can't find it on my App Store!!!

 

[handsome pete]

I wish half of this crap didn't require cable subscriptions. Why the heck can't I just pay Apple $20 a month or something and get access to all this stuff? They can divide the money appropriately based on how much of each channel I watch.

Apple wins, the networks win, and I win, by not having to pay for a bunch of other content I don't need as well.

But nooooo, the media conglomerates don't want to give up their outdated business models.

If it were only that simple. The "a la carte" model that so many around here clamor for is not realistic either. In all likelihood it would end up just as (if not more) expensive as cable and/or provide even less content you want. The cable system does need to change and become more open. But "a la carte" isn't feasible.

 

[Gaspode67]

Can't be too hard to add content to other countries, surely?

Yes it can be. The content producers rely on the fact that they can sell broadcast rights across multiple markets in order to make an operating profit to allow future productions. Making a TV show isn't as simple or as cheap as music. For any given hit show like a CSI or a Doctor Who, the budgets are MASSIVE, running to tens of millions of dollars per episode. Without the money coming in from domestic and international rights, you won't get the shows you want.

 

[machpost]

Well that's great, but since I do not have a participating cable provider I cannot enjoy most of the updates.

I just don't understand the restrictions?

It's so annoying to see these Disney apps show up, when MOST cable subscribers probably don't have access to them. They're only supported by a handful of providers.

 

[Lancetx]

If they are going to keep adding apps like this, they need to provide a better way to manage them. I won't use most of the recent additions (I don't have a cable subscription and don't watch most professional sports), and the current means of hiding apps is more cumbersome than it needs to be.

C'mon, it's really not that hard to do and hiding them has to be done only once.

 

[jdechko]

So to sum up the comments (in no particular order):

1) Why no NFL?

2) Boooo. Needs cable sub / why not a la carte?

3) Boooo. US only.

4) Needs new interface.

I think that pretty much covers it.

 

[giantfan1224]

Maybe they can work something out with the NFL! I'd love to get Sunday Ticket on the Apple TV via subscription and not have to sign up for DirecTV

DirecTV pays a lot, I mean A LOT, of money for exclusive rights to Sunday Ticket. You can bet, as long as the current contract is in place, there will be no way around it.

 

[wowser21]

If it could get NFL Sunday Ticket or Redzone, I'd buy one in a heartbeat and cancel my cable subscription.

I just subscribe to Sunday Ticket for mobile devices (99$ for the service and Madden25 video game through Amazon). I then mirror it from my Ipad to the Apple TV. While it is not fullscreen i still get to watch the games on my TV. Sold the game for $40 so essentially $60 for Sunday ticket.

 

[alent1234]

If you know anyone in your family or friends that has cable, simply get their log in for the cable web portal and you're all set. I've been doing that forever! Works like a charm and I only have to pay for Netflix to get the rest of what I want.

at some point they will crack down on this, maybe even with legal action since you are costing your family's cable company money

 

[djtech42]

Create the Apple TV App Store already!

 

[doboy]

Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

although I wouldn't subscribe to it

 

[Alumeenium]

where is the Dev kit??!

how do I delete these stupid Apps we dont want or need (ie; home shopping network)

NFL ? you know its FREE on BroadcastTV right.... as in FREE!

HBO ? w/o cable subscription ?

 

[winston1236]

I wish half of this crap didn't require cable subscriptions. Why the heck can't I just pay Apple $20 a month or something and get access to all this stuff? They can divide the money appropriately based on how much of each channel I watch.

Apple wins, the networks win, and I win, by not having to pay for a bunch of other content I don't need as well.

But nooooo, the media conglomerates don't want to give up their outdated business models.

Darn those people trying to make a living in media! Do you think that the hundreds of people who work on shows want to do so for free? Salaries are already terrible and your "I want it all free or cheap" attitude only adds to it.

 

[hkenneth]

Hi I sympathise but u can open a US iTunes account, and at least get the much larger collection of movies and tv shows that our American cousins get...Netflix subscription and iTunes rentals are cheaper too! All you need is a USA Credit card, a quick search will help you here and voila!!

I think they block foreign IP addresses, at least I was not able to watch HBO Go when I was travelling in China...

 

[Scyanide]

I'm just waiting for the update that allows us to remove/hide the channels we don't care about...

 

[Lord Hamsa]

So to sum up the comments (in no particular order):

1) Why no NFL?

Because DirecTV has exclusive rights through the 2014 regular season.

2) Boooo. Needs cable sub / why not a la carte?

because of carrier contracts with the cable compnaies.

3) Boooo. US only.

Licensing deals/contracts have to be done in each jurisdiction separately.

4) Needs new interface.

Amen.

 

[citi]

Again, I can't express how tacky the ESPN and Disney icons look with the word "Watch" attached to them. Like we're stupid and don't know what selecting them is going to allow us to do.

Imagine how tacky and busy the screen would look if all of the app icons had "Watch" or "Listen" attached to them.

Just tacky.

Blame Disney. It's their apps. Same apps that are on the ipad. These are not the only apps that Disney has, which is probably why they use the "watch" for better differentiation.

 

[jdechko]

DirecTV pays a lot, I mean A LOT, of money for exclusive rights to Sunday Ticket. You can bet, as long as the current contract is in place, there will be no way around it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1625681/

The current deal was reported to be $1bn per year. Apple makes that in profit in about a week or two, and could easily afford it if they wanted.

I fully expect Apple and Google to make strong bids in the upcoming negotiations.

 

[MonkeySee....]

Yes it can be. The content producers rely on the fact that they can sell broadcast rights across multiple markets in order to make an operating profit to allow future productions. Making a TV show isn't as simple or as cheap as music. For any given hit show like a CSI or a Doctor Who, the budgets are MASSIVE, running to tens of millions of dollars per episode. Without the money coming in from domestic and international rights, you won't get the shows you want.

I should be able to access "The Disney Channel" app using my sky ID. I don't see why that would be an issue. Sky wouldn't lose out.