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What puzzles me is how Apple is sitting on a gold mine with the virtually complete collection of TV shows and movies they have in iTunes. They could just renegotiate those contracts and offer iTunes as a monthly subscription. It's the motherload of catalogues. They could wipe the competition clean, except for Netflix and Amazon original programming.


they would have to renegotiate for every show and movie. and many of them already have an exclusive contract with other services or tv channels. these contracts usually do not cover selling the show/movie through other channels, which is why the itunes catalog is so big.
 
What do they mean by "Channels"? Does that include the "On Demand" content?

The contents of HBO, ShowTime and Starz would be a formidable competitor to Netflix.
 
Apple seems unable to get anyone to play ball with them anymore. They don't want a repeat of the iTunes music industry near monopolization. But for those of us that are tired of cable bills approaching or exceeding $200 a month, it's getting old. I watch very few TV shows these days and if I didn't have a DVR, I couldn't survive as I cannot STAND commercials anymore (like watching time in your life go down the waste disposal). You're already paying THRROUGH THE NOSE for cable and you have to have CONSTANT ads thrown at you ON TOP OF THAT. Most of that money goes to cable operators, so why not eliminate the middle man and offer stations ala carte?

The networks don't like it because worthless channels would DIE almost immediately. They prop up crap channels with the good ones. What I'm realizing is that I watch maybe 4-6 actual TV Series a year (I'd rather interact with a game or watch my home theater collection or Netflix or whatever much of the time). At about $100 of my almost $200 a month going for cable and cable box rental, I could buy around 30 TV series off something like iTunes or a Blu-Ray set a year. Given I watch maybe 5 shows a year in total plus some random news and a bit of channels surfing, I could still save $700 a year AND get my 5 Blu-Ray seasons for that money. I'd have to give up channel surfing and traditional cable news, though. True, there are packages out there (Sling, Playstation Vue, etc.) that could give you SOME stations, but I really only want MS-NBC, CNN and Fox News to cycle through (to watch them yell at each other and blame the other guy). I could put up with some ads to watch that live off the Internet, but no no no. They want you to buy a cable subscription PLUS watch ads. Well FRACK THEM. There are plenty of other (FREE) news services out there. Not everything has to be hosted by Anderson Cooper or whomever. The more I think about it the more I think I could do something else with that $700 (average) a year savings. Like take an extra vacation week every other year or get a new Macbook Pro every 3 years.... I feel like I'm just throwing money down the toilet.

It just seems a shame that you can't just buy the stations you actually want to watch. What would 3 news stations cost? The rest I can buy the show off iTunes or a Blu-Ray or wait for it to come on to something like Netflix.
 
To each their own, but until Apple can negotiate a mecca service with on-demand music, movies, and tv as well as current run tv that's less than my $100 cable+internet bill, I'll stick with cable and borrowing my Dad's Netflix login.
 
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TV channels? Wouldn't even watch them if they were free. On-demand and commercial free or GTFO.
 
Hmmm....... Apple seems to be using the word "premium" a lot (well, ok, not Apple per say but Macrumors in this case and in the case of the iPhone 8), which I find to be scary as it makes me think they'll put a massive price tag on it. Hopefully they won't do it with this nor the iPhone 8/X/6sss or what ever it will be called.
"Premium", "Pro" & "Edition" means one thing to Apple these days; gouge the customer and we are all masochists.
 
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What happened to the original content idea with Dr. Dre and Co? Apple needs to retool their media operation. Steve would have owned Game of Thrones by now.
Seeing as Steve didn't want sex and violence on iTunes I doubt that very much.
 
and again, this will be the same old bs as always.. it's great if you live in san fran and get everything tim cook wants. and not so great for the rest of the world who get delayed releases, limited releases, incomplete releases, and simply only 20% or whatever of the total offering - for the same price, but in euro, with some sugar on top.

If they want to fight piracy, stop being on their high horse and step into the now rather than hang on to these stupid re-invetion of some fake wheel that comes up every 9 months.. every company offers some magical bundle, the ISPs have already done this for us, and has never worked. others have done this, enver worked, the industry doesn't change, so it wont be different for apple.

And how apple has been lately, they have NO weight in the industry either. its not like the iphone where they can pressure telecom to do it the apple way or the high way and lose out big time.. apple can't get it 100% for every country they offer it too. and therefor it will be the same as always.. its nonsense, waste of time, no need to pay for it, and just like their music and social networks and other stuff.. it's not the business they're in.. if they can't even release their hardware in a timeline manner in an industry that offers new tech jumps every 6 to 9 months, besides an iphone .. then how can they promise the same quality and availability on some 'service'.

And complain about my attitude or mood or opinion all you want. It's been the same since 1996, and looking at what you guys have in the US vs what we have in the NL, we pay more in Euro, for less, For digital goods from various companies, that offer incomplete and outdated catalogues
 
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So many new Apple features are restricted to the US

yep, after how many years and Siri still does not work on the ATV4 in New Zealand even though it does on the other IOS devices.

Basically I have given up on Siri ever being available and I have started replacing my Apple TVs with Kodi boxes from China. And I would not pay those prices for HBO etc, I get 4 users for Netflix for much cheaper than that
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I would hands down pay for this.

I already pay for Netflix, they beat Apple in offering something I wanted for a price I am happy to pay, can't see me changing and certainly won't change for the price Apple like to charge.

Apple can't even get Siri working in New Zealand, so I have started replacing my my ATVs with "Kodi Boxes", they work fine for Netflix and cost a hell of a lot less to buy.

I also HATE the keyboard on the new MacBookPro with a passion, so its likely my next laptop will be Linux.

Apple, too little too late.
 
This kind of pricing would only work in the US anyway.
Except from the UK where Now TV is a non-subscription based core premium content service, and Canada where you have more flexibility over which channels you pay for.
Yet if this was released later this year it would be USA first, UK in 2025, and elsewhere in 2030.
 
What puzzles me is how Apple is sitting on a gold mine with the virtually complete collection of TV shows and movies they have in iTunes. They could just renegotiate those contracts and offer iTunes as a monthly subscription. It's the motherload of catalogues. They could wipe the competition clean, except for Netflix and Amazon original programming.
Exactly!!! With the whole movie catalogue and tv shows, along with music, a single $99 per month for everything and $149 for family of 6 people would make so much more sense!
 
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Exactly!!! With the whole movie catalogue and tv shows, along with music, a single $99 per month for everything and $149 for family of 6 people would make so much more sense!

Are you joking, we pay about US$10 for 4 users on Netflix, there is no way we would pay anything close to what you suggest.

We have stopped going to the cinema because the cost for 2 people is more than the cost of buying the DVD.
 
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TV and movie bundles are played out. Is Apple trying to reinvent the hamburger by making a triangle shaped one? Yawn. I think Apple missed out not bidding for TNF when it had the opportunity. Even better "stealing "Sunday Ticket" from under DirecTV. Then focusing on sports and giving ESPN, already wounded, a run for it's money by turning ATV into the sports oriented streaming box. Regardless ATV needs a niche and it's yet to find it and a bundle of movie channels found elsewhere isn't the answer. Sorry.
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What puzzles me is how Apple is sitting on a gold mine with the virtually complete collection of TV shows and movies they have in iTunes. They could just renegotiate those contracts and offer iTunes as a monthly subscription. It's the motherload of catalogues. They could wipe the competition clean, except for Netflix and Amazon original programming.

Apple isn't "sitting" on them, they are storing them under license, just like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc. There is a reason Netflix doesn't have every title or loses titles every now and then or that Amazon Prime titles over night are not. What makes you think Apple could negotiate what these well oiled streaming monsters cannot? I mean Apple couldn't even get a lower priced TV bundle before Sling or DirecTV. The media companies are wary of Apple and are not going to give Apple best pricing or other strategic advantages.
 
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TV watching the days seems to be mostly on a tabtop and streamed.
But it's still the same superficial garbage. All the comedy and drama writing talent has vanished, documentaries now look like Rambo and news is always from a lurid purple and red set that induces nausea.
I mostly watch boxed sets or YouTube these days and read a whole lot more.
 
Reading the first couple pages of responses makes me think some aren't getting the point. There are A LOT of people who have stopped paying for content all together. Whether they are sharing disc files, illegal streaming, or actually doing without to get to know their families better, there are a lot who have tossed in the towel on cable / satellite.

Personally, I pay $25 a month for HBO & Netflix. That is more content than i could ever hope to watch. And to be fair, some of it, I never want to. lol

However, if HBO/Showtime/Starz could be had as a group in the $25-$29 range. I would have to take a serious look at that. Compared to current standalone pricing, it would be the best value on the block.
 
Reading the first couple pages of responses makes me think some aren't getting the point. There are A LOT of people who have stopped paying for content all together. Whether they are sharing disc files, illegal streaming, or actually doing without to get to know their families better, there are a lot who have tossed in the towel on cable / satellite.

Personally, I pay $25 a month for HBO & Netflix. That is more content than i could ever hope to watch. And to be fair, some of it, I never want to. lol

However, if HBO/Showtime/Starz could be had as a group in the $25-$29 range. I would have to take a serious look at that. Compared to current standalone pricing, it would be the best value on the block.

We have ATV and Roku. Of the 2 we use ATV more, but that's because we had ATV first and signed up to a few providers like Netflix on it before we had Roku.

What I want out of any of these boxes is individualized access across all of the corporate lines. We got a Roku because ATV doesn't have Amazon Prime. There are probably more programs and services on other proprietary networks that I don't know about. And then there is the "disappearing from company X one month and moving to different provider Y the next". I'm willing to pay for access quit making me jump through multiple hoops (and fees) to do it.

Someone will say that this is not Apples fault because those services could make an app to sell on ATV. I don't care which company('s) are at fault. I want easy access without needing to buy multiple physical products. To quote Picard " Make it so".
 
What puzzles me is how Apple is sitting on a gold mine with the virtually complete collection of TV shows and movies they have in iTunes. They could just renegotiate those contracts and offer iTunes as a monthly subscription. It's the motherload of catalogues. They could wipe the competition clean, except for Netflix and Amazon original programming.

If they did what they did with Apple Music for TV and Movies they would definitely clean up.
 
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Depending on where Apple would price this package at, I would be interested. My fiancée and subscribe to all three, so I'm curious if Apple could come in cheaper than $35/month.
 
I'd love to see an a la carte ordering scheme. Apple also needs to be working on guaranteed delivery rates. All this awesome a la carte stuff won't fly if the ISP can throttle speeds for services other than their own.
 
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