Considering Apple's record so far negotiating with other companies for video content, don't hold your breath.
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Apple Could Offer HBO, Showtime, and Starz Channels as 'Premium TV Bundle'
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This would be really great. I can't wait to select the tv channels you want to watch and ay for them, and cancel directv.
There's no content provider dumb enough to even think about a pay per stream model. Why would they? You're talking about an industry used to being paid regardless of whether or not a show is successful. Being beholden to customers to provided per stream revenue... nobody's that dumb. Besides Apple's customers don't live in a bubble where they only get content from Apple. And iTunes? It's already a mess. Yeah, this idea has no legs.
No way would on demand access to the entire iTunes TV and movies library only cost $30 a month.
I currently get HBO and STARZ for $14.00/month total. Actually, I take that back -- HBO is currently free for a year courtesy of DIRECTV Now. In 12 months, I'll be paying $14.00/month to get both channels. Until then, I'm only paying $9.00/month to get both.
All that to say, Apple would have to come up with a pretty sweet deal in order to entice me.
All that to say, Apple would have to come up with a pretty sweet deal in order to entice me.
IMHO, it appears that Cook & Cue do not have the ability to negotiate like Jobs did. Now they're just throwing whatever sticks to the wall. I don't have time to wade through all the stuff that's out there, so no need for me to take bundled packages. Ala Carte might be OK at the right price. At this point, I'm happy with Hulu and for my wife, Feelin'.
To paraphrase Newton Minow...TV is a vast wasteland.
To paraphrase Newton Minow...TV is a vast wasteland.
I already get all of these for 25 bucks in a package deal through my provider, which combined with the network's own apps that are free to use with my subscription, I'm not seeing a lot of incentive here to switch.
As far as most content providers are concerned, viewers are the product. If a broadcaster cannot guarantee X viewers at a cost of Y dollars then they have no reason to cut a deal. Cable, Satellite, and Internet stations don't provide services out of the goodness of their hearts, they try to maximize the number of viewers vs. the cost of them providing the programs. This is not the cost to the viewers, this is the cost of them running their operations.
Apple just needs to do something on this front or give up and make it public they are done trying to negotiate contracts.
It shouldn't take 5+ years to figure this out. Don't wait for the perfect contract. Get in or don't. This back and forth is annoying and making it so that when they do, I'll refuse to consider them as an option on principle.
It shouldn't take 5+ years to figure this out. Don't wait for the perfect contract. Get in or don't. This back and forth is annoying and making it so that when they do, I'll refuse to consider them as an option on principle.
We've had this for a decade now. You can buy show a-la-carte from iTunes and other stores.
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It's only puzzzling if you willfully ignore that the streaming right to hundreds, maybe thousands, of those shows have already been sold to other streaming services.
I agree. I have a grand total of 0 channels at my home. I have an Amazon Prime membership which gets me free Amazon content and a Netflix account. Anything else I want I buy as a movie or a season on iTunes. There isn't a channel out there that has enough good content to make me want to subscribe to the channel on a monthly basis.
Between you and Chance Miller reporting "Starz" and "Premium" in the same title is just plain nonesense.
in this case it's not Apple. They can't control what the channels will allow them to do
Maybe because the divisions he's heading up are bringing in record amounts of revenue and are growing exponentially and he has grown them to the equivalent of a Fortune 100 company were they to be spun off. I guess Tim Cook values that more than whether or not some Internet rumor pans out.
When we were looking to pare down our ridiculously high cable bill 2-3 years ago, we initially were going to cut the cord - but we ended up going with a plan called "Internet Plus" instead. Comcast had it priced so that for $3 more than we'd pay for internet service, we get internet plus all the local channels.
Plus, for some reason, HBO.
I don't know that I'd be willing to pay a whole lot for HBO - we've never subscribed to it before - but $3/month isn't bad.
I miss when we would pick a network that ruled the night with shows like Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley--yeah they were stupid now that I look back on them but at the time we had a great time watching them...until Fonzie jumped the shark...lol. Then Friday with "Dukes of Hazzard" and "Dallas" and if you went to school to talk about those shows everyone knew what you were talking about and everybody wondered who shot JR.
Now I've got this huge flat tv that takes up most of a wall and all these little boxes that I suppose would show just about anything I could want to see. And I never watch it unless it's to watch stuff like "Emergency" "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and stuff I watched over 30 years ago. The few times I tried to watch something "current" someone recommended to me, eyes got gouged out, body parts cut off, someone resembling Lady Gaga got naked. And that was just the commercials! JH Christmas, the world is a weird place now. There's some things on HGTV that are okay but all I can say is modern tv got me back to reading more than ever.
Now get off my damn lawn, Eddy Cue!
Not that anyone can tell, but this post was written tongue-in-cheek
Now I've got this huge flat tv that takes up most of a wall and all these little boxes that I suppose would show just about anything I could want to see. And I never watch it unless it's to watch stuff like "Emergency" "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and stuff I watched over 30 years ago. The few times I tried to watch something "current" someone recommended to me, eyes got gouged out, body parts cut off, someone resembling Lady Gaga got naked. And that was just the commercials! JH Christmas, the world is a weird place now. There's some things on HGTV that are okay but all I can say is modern tv got me back to reading more than ever.
Now get off my damn lawn, Eddy Cue!
Not that anyone can tell, but this post was written tongue-in-cheek
