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Apple Aims to 'Erase Distinction Between Live and On-Demand' TV Content

I love apple but am perfectly fine with how tv works now. My shows are recorded with a plain old cable HD DVR I come home and they are there,the ones I wanted. It takes seconds to fast forward through commercials and when I've watched I erase and done.

Guess TV isn't that important to me to take the technology a step further
 
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miniroll32 said:
^^ I'm in the same boat. This to me is more Apple creating a problem out of nothing rather than solving anything.
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Agreed. But the marketing machines grinds on.....

Steve "finally cracked" TV.

Apple working on the next product in their "labs".

I find all this language laughable. Apple are a consumer electronics company. They are not at the forefront of scientific discovery. They're not trying to "crack" codes and mathematical problems.

They're pretty good at developing good consumer electronics products and marketing them well.
 
It looks like a fantastic idea on paper and would certainly be something I would consider paying for. BUT, even if the big networks agree, that whole thing will be a US only service for sure. Nothing to get excited about for us over here in the rest of the world.

The NFL network is one of the few networks that actually have a plan selling their content online and open to the world .. it is quite pricey but at least they have an offer. HBO with their hit programs doesn't even offer that .. the result is that people download it illegally.

Well .. maybe Apple is big enough to convince them .. but I actually think it the otherway around and the network fear Apples size and influence that comes along with it.

T.
 
New SetTopBox?

I think thats just a matter of Contracts

In Germany there were up to 12 Livestrams of the Olympic Games accessible through any HTML5 Browser, even on iPhone and iPad.

Including TimeShift!!! (restricted by the International Olympic Comitee to one Day)
FREE!!! (included Advertisements in the Streems)
HD!!! (depending on my Bandwidth)

So I could watch any sport at any Time.
We dont need no new Technology, just a Contract and a ATV with updatet Firmware including a Browser (or maybe paid Apps from the TV-Stations) to make this happen. The specs of the existing Apple TV definitly allow it.
 
this will never be allowed in Germany. just recently our major networks tried to get together to form a internet platform like Hulu but the government didnt allow it because it would make them "too powerful" compared to small networks or some crap like that ...

and its bad enough as it is, we cant even record or pause most HD channels here anymore because they dont want u to skip the ads. all i'm seeing nowadays is "sorry - this network does not allow the skip and record feature" BS

those managers are really stuck in the 90s and yet they wonder why people pirate
 
MarcelNBG said:
I think thats just a matter of Contracts

In Germany there were up to 12 Livestrams of the Olympic Games accessible through any HTML5 Browser, even on iPhone and iPad.

Including TimeShift!!! (restricted by the International Olympic Comitee to one Day)
FREE!!! (included Advertisements in the Streems)
HD!!! (depending on my Bandwidth)

So I could watch any sport at any Time.
We dont need no new Technology, just a Contract and a ATV with updatet Firmware including a Browser (or maybe paid Apps from the TV-Stations) to make this happen. The specs of the existing Apple TV definitly allow it.
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Sounds like what the BBC offered in the UK. And as the BBC is funded by the License Fee in the UK no adverts either.
 
Nope, most of them suck. I have been sticking to Netflix, some Hulu, and Red Box...and movie theater every now and then. I refuse to pay for cable though... too many useless channels when all I'd want would be a 5-8 channels. HBO and Cinimax seems to play good movies every now and then though according to some people.

Ochyandkaren said:
Are USA TV shows any good?

I do not like most of them ( i do not watch TV nowadays, tho ), And UK makes BEST science Doc., comedy and crime shows.
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Don't know if I need an Apple STB/PVR, but I guess since Samsung has one why not? Guess it would open more users up to the Apple eco-system. Plus with so many smart STBs and TVs on the market I guess Apple wants a piece of the action?
 
Lark.Landon said:
Commercials generally last about 8 minutes now. So people feel free to run to the store or go pick something up real quick causing mini-traffic jams. It is an international phenomenon known as "jammin' " . :p
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In the US we already have DVR's, so that does not apply to us :)
 
Highly unlikely

Apple is not going to build a giant DVR in Oregon. As others have pointed out, ads are injected nationally as well as locally by cable distributors. Apple would need a local tuner in every cable market in the country or world in order to record the shows for that region. That's not a very efficient or elegant design - which is unlike Apple.

What I could see them doing however is becoming a new "cable" provider. They could conceivably pick up and redistribute the satellite feeds themselves (assuming they can somehow manage to license the content). This would give them control over the raw stream, which they would presumably convert to MPEG 4 before redistributing. They could then choose which ads to inject, and could do so much more effectively than the current cable providers because it could be done on a highly-targeted, per user basis.
 
^^ I was thinking the same thing to be honest :eek: Apple's goal at this point is likely not going to be re-broadcasting content, but actually repackaging the content so that existing channels have a more 'App' feel about them. You purchase or subscribe to that 'App', and you have the right to view it whenever you want. In other words, its still the live stream of content, but you have the option of watching it on demand.

The benefits of this approach would at least be clear to all existing cable customers. You only pay for the content you actually want from that particular provider (i.e channels, programmes and movies) meaning you're not locked into the 'packages' that are typical with, say Sky, were you're expected to pay for a bundle of channels and may not even like or watch half of them.

This would work really well with sport, because Sky expect you to pay for all their channels as one package and the price keeps going up. But if Apple could offer those channels as separate subscriptions/costs, customers would be able to focus better on the sport they actually watch.

That's a pretty exciting prospect to be honest. You could flick through documentaries and decide to subscribe to Nat Geo, but not History, etc etc... And they would all appear in a similar (though not identical) interface to iOS.
 
robbieduncan said:
Sounds a bit like YouView
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That's what I thought. Standard PVR for Freeview HD channels via standard aerial with all the terrestrial on-demand services built right into the EPG through internet - no going in and out of apps to switch from TV to iPlayer to ITVPlayer, just scroll back in time to find the show you want to watch.

And yes, the BBC is awesome. Just over £10 a month gets you 4 freeview channels (not including Parliament and News channels), loads of excellent radio stations - all with no commercials! Being able to watch the Olympics without commercials every 5 minutes was worth a year's licence fee alone.
 
This is definately going to happen. I've been saying this for years.

Right now, things air live on tv, and if you're not there you either (a) tape/record/tivo things to watch later or (b) watch DVDs, BluRays or on-demand at a later time.

We're slowly bringing (a) and (b) together.

It's already that way in my household. We have no cable, only over the air tv and an apple tv. For example, my daughter loves Disney's cartoon 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates'. We subscribe to the show, and she can watch every episode over and over again at any time she wants to. When a new episode comes out on the Disney Channel, it's on our Apple TV the next day to view.

I think most shows will be like this in the future - i.e. 8:00pm Monday nights - a new episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' is available. You can get these episodes for $x/year subscription, or a monthly $x/month subscription to CBS to get all of CBS's shows. It's all going this way.

Look to the future, say 2020: The main reason I see content companies (CBS, NBC, HBO, MGM, etc. etc.) going down this path is that people will soon no longer be able to get physical copies of anything (it's all by subscription, and when your subscription ends, access ends) and will not be able to record anything (due to iPad-type locked down devices vs. general use computers not as available anymore). People can no longer buy physical copies to give to friends. Everyone will have to purchase their own copies.

It's going this way, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. There will be numerous attempts at backlash, but 'The Man' will make it this way.... eventually.
 
bandrews said:
And yes, the BBC is awesome. Just over £10 a month gets you 4 freeview channels (not including Parliament and News channels), loads of excellent radio stations - all with no commercials! Being able to watch the Olympics without commercials every 5 minutes was worth a year's licence fee alone.
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Agreed! Put it another way, those of us in the UK who choose not to subscribe to any pay TV model can, for the price of less than 40 pence a day (63c) not only get access to all the BBC has to offer, but also all the other freeview channels and services. It really galls me when I hear people like the Daily Wail and Murdoch complain about the Beeb. It's something we should be rightly proud of.
 
bbeagle said:
This is definately going to happen. I've been saying this for years.

Right now, things air live on tv, and if you're not there you either (a) tape/record/tivo things to watch later or (b) watch DVDs, BluRays or on-demand at a later time.

We're slowly bringing (a) and (b) together.

It's already that way in my household. We have no cable, only over the air tv and an apple tv. For example, my daughter loves Disney's cartoon 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates'. We subscribe to the show, and she can watch every episode over and over again at any time she wants to. When a new episode comes out on the Disney Channel, it's on our Apple TV the next day to view.

I think most shows will be like this in the future - i.e. 8:00pm Monday nights - a new episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' is available. You can get these episodes for $x/year subscription, or a monthly $x/month subscription to CBS to get all of CBS's shows. It's all going this way.

Look to the future, say 2020: The main reason I see content companies (CBS, NBC, HBO, MGM, etc. etc.) going down this path is that people will soon no longer be able to get physical copies of anything (it's all by subscription, and when your subscription ends, access ends) and will not be able to record anything (due to iPad-type locked down devices vs. general use computers not as available anymore). People can no longer buy physical copies to give to friends. Everyone will have to purchase their own copies.

It's going this way, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. There will be numerous attempts at backlash, but 'The Man' will make it this way.... eventually.
Click to expand...

plan to get the same show but via Amazon and my x-box. Amazon digital content is usually 30% cheaper than itunes
 
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