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Apple Adds WatchESPN, HBO GO, Sky News, and More to Apple TV

wovel said:
My guess would be Apple would be thrilled to find a content provider not owned by a Cable company that was willing to break away and offer independent subscriptions. Unfortunately, all of the content providers are owned by service providers.
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If I were running Apple, what I would do is offer HBO to subsidize ANY shortfall in profits if they would allow a cable-free subscription service. The fine print would be that if there *isn't* a shortfall, then Apple gets a % of the profits as well.
 
flux73 said:
If I were running Apple, what I would do is offer HBO to subsidize ANY shortfall in profits if they would allow a cable-free subscription service. The fine print would be that if there *isn't* a shortfall, then Apple gets a % of the profits as well.
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I think it is a reasonable approach, but the problem is Time Warner owns HBO and a huge cable company. They are essentially forced to provide programming to the satellite providers, but opening it up to internet services puts their cable business into jeopardy.

Apple could easily buy Time Warner (Or all the Programming assets), but that would be a big play. It is also the best play to get into the TV industry in a real way. They already have a solid relationship with Disney so this would put them in a strong position.
 
wovel said:
I would like to see Amazon VOD too, but I am not sure it is quite as easy as you make it out to be. My guess is the SDK is not fully baked and Apple does not feel like getting it where it needs to be is a priority. They also need to develop some UI standards which is why Apple is currently involved in every release for the ATV. No offense to ROKU or anyone else, but they really don't care about providing a consistent user experience. Does Apple always deliver a consistent experience? No. Do they always try? Yes.
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How long do you think it takes them to devolop a SDK? How many years did they have. A SDK has nothing to do with it. Licencing deals and content does.

They already have UI standards in place, it isn't like they don't.

The user experience is 'better' than the Apple, the UI is easier to use and customizable. Is faster and you can find what you want quite easily. Content compared to the Apple is a joke. The roku has way more content.

What makes you think that Roku doen't try to provide a consistant user experience?
 
iapplelove said:
Lol there are people in this thread that have no idea what hbo go is
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or WatchESPN for that matter.

IIRC, you have to have a cable TV subscription to be able to watch "normal" ESPN on iPad/iPhone/ATV... I have comcast internet only and I am only able to watch ESPN3 on WatchESPN, not regular ESPN... thus, I can't cut the cord because I watch like to watch ESPN regularly.
 
wovel said:
I think it is a reasonable approach, but the problem is Time Warner owns HBO and a huge cable company. They are essentially forced to provide programming to the satellite providers, but opening it up to internet services puts their cable business into jeopardy.

Apple could easily buy Time Warner (Or all the Programming assets), but that would be a big play. It is also the best play to get into the TV industry in a real way. They already have a solid relationship with Disney so this would put them in a strong position.
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Actually, Time Warner Cable is an independent entity that only licenses the usage of the name from Time Warner. They have nothing to do with HBO (owned by Time Warner). Confusing I know.
 
Still wondering why app developers can't just write an app for the Apple TV.

For people in Europe most content isn't usefull... For The Netherlands 'Uitzending Gemist' would be a major selling point (all tv's have it now, but it's not working fine, only on the macbook/iphone it works fine).
 
I see this whole thing as a positive. Apple has to step carefully for now. However, once they have enough Apple TV users, they'll have more leverage to be able to make demands from content providers who will then be scrambling to be made available on Apple TV. It's not unlike the play they made 10 years ago with the music industry. They started with the iPod, then they worked on obtaining content.
 
Nope

"If your TV provider is not listed, access to HBO GO on Apple TV is not offered"

I'm getting real tired of your ****, HBO.
 
Sky News UK live feed looks much worse than the digital TV broadcasts, which already looks bad.

What is the point in that? I was expecting 1080p.

The news ticker along the bottom is jerky and the picture is rubbish.

BBC iPlayer STILL missing which is much more needed than SKY NEWS.
 
willybNL said:
Still wondering why app developers can't just write an app for the Apple TV.

For people in Europe most content isn't usefull... For The Netherlands 'Uitzending Gemist' would be a major selling point (all tv's have it now, but it's not working fine, only on the macbook/iphone it works fine).
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I think this is the plan eventually, but I'm guessing they're working on some capabilities still before they open it up. My guess is the same as the article that came out a few days ago - that Apple plans to make TV more interactive. Like being able to play along in Jeopardy, or being able to post clips of stuff you just watched directly to Facebook (like an instant replay of some amazing shot in the NBA), tag certain items to shop for it (like a shirt you really liked), buy songs you're hearing on a show, etc.

So for example, you might be watching a movie and your iPad/iPhone will be displaying info you might be interested in - the director/actors in the movie, the model of car that's on the screen right now, the song that's playing, the location of the shoot (and of course how much a flight would cost to get there). The possibilities are endless.
 
wovel said:
I think it is a reasonable approach, but the problem is Time Warner owns HBO and a huge cable company. They are essentially forced to provide programming to the satellite providers, but opening it up to internet services puts their cable business into jeopardy.

Apple could easily buy Time Warner (Or all the Programming assets), but that would be a big play. It is also the best play to get into the TV industry in a real way. They already have a solid relationship with Disney so this would put them in a strong position.
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This has been said multiple times..... Time Warner does not own Time Warner Cable, Inc.
 
rmwebs said:
The shameful thing is, its piss easy to get working. I got it working on an old Humax freeview box a while back, the controller mapping via a javascript inject file is all that has to be done, and even then all you're doing is mapping up,down, left, right to their keyboard counterparts, and 'menu' to 'backspace' and then 'play' to 'enter'.

It's sad how simple it is, its already h.245 compatible, the iPlayer streams are the exact resolution needed, and there is no flash to get in the way of things as the BBC already made it fully compatible with any set top box running a very simple browser.
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Not too sure why Apple haven't added it then, especially if it's so simple to implement. Maybe they see it as a threat on ATV, though they've allowed an iPhone app for it. Possibly some users will spend their time watching it all day long rather then pay for iTunes movies/ TV. Or they, as usual, they may want something, in terms of revenue from BBC.
 
handsome pete said:
I think you missed the part where you still need a cable subscription to access WatchESPN. Unless you plan on using someone else's credentials.
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Yeah, I edited the post when I realized that. It's still useful because the cable box broke again. I could also cut it and use someone else's credentials.
 
davidoloan said:
Sky News UK live feed looks much worse than the digital TV broadcasts, which already looks bad.

What is the point in that? I was expecting 1080p.

The news ticker along the bottom is jerky and the picture is rubbish.

BBC iPlayer STILL missing which is much more needed than SKY NEWS.
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I rather have SkySports on the AppleTV now though.
 
If you go into Parental Controls you can hide the apps you don't want to appear on your Apple TV home screen.
 
Excellent news. I have a friend staying with me and I introduced him to Game of Thrones when he watched the last 3 episodes of season 3 with me. Now he wants to watch from the start. I was just telling him the other day how much I wished HBOGo was available on the AppleTV. Welp, seems as though Apple was listening (along with the NSA).

On a related note, was just testing out the SkyNews service (yes, I know it's crap news) and what do I see show up? A report about this very AppleTV update including the information that people can now watch their service. Very meta.
 
handsome pete said:
What makes you think it's soon to be obsolete? Sure, they're going to have to adapt around these streaming services. But overall, what major change are they really going to have to make? I see all of this talk about "a la carte" pricing, but anyone who really thinks that kind of system would lead to lower costs is kidding themselves.
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Maybe not now.. but eventually, economies of scale will make a la carte pricing for moderate users a very cost efficient option. I myself only watch HBO and a few major network channels. For power TV watchers, then bundling will always be better option.

Keep in mind, however, that cable companies like to include services and equipment rental which are very profitable for them, but not necessary for us. My cable company, for example, charges you for the DVR "rental" and makes you purchase a phone line in order to get cheaper internet and basic cable. If you need 2 out of the 3 services, it would be cheaper to just get all 3. However, I have not used my phone line in god knows how long. I can't even remember the number of the top of my head..:D
 
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