I hope that these rumors are only partly right. Very happy to hear that all these content providers are open to partnering with Apple. However, I hope the final solution is closer to a la cart like HBO. I could see signing up for 1 or 2 channels and that's about it. Even the $30 dollar plan that is rumored has stuff I just don't want.
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Apple in Talks With Discovery and Viacom Over Streaming TV Service
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Can I ask...what are you willing to budget on a monthly basis for all of these wants?
I bring this up because many people assume that "cutting the cord" or some new al la carte business model automatically means lower "cable" bills. But it absolutely will lead to a more dispersed set of costs, including things like:
1) Higher internet service fees (possibly just increases from the Internet service providers or possibly because you need to increase your incoming bandwidth)
2) Various subscription fees (do you want HBO Now, Netflix, a couple of PPV sporting events a month, etc).
3) Hardware investments (new/faster routers, new set-top boxes to replace the current AppleTVs and Rokus of the world). Plus, investment into new devices to every TV n the house.
My point is not that your wants are unfounded or undesirable. It is that there will be a cost, and in fact we might find in a few years that the overall TV programming expense on a monthly basis is actually the same or higher than it is today.
No so long ago, cell phone plans were in the $30-$40/mo range, and any overage was on talking and texting. Now, individual plans for high data packages run us 2x-3x more per line. So we pay more per month, but consider what we have now a necessity. At a cost.
I am really excited to see what goes on with this service. Just as with the other ventures it is starting out small. Apple Pay... started out with a few banks and merchants and now look at it continuing to grow as others come aboard. The ios app store started out as a little now has a gazzilion apps. etc. etc. It is a start! we still have a few months to go before WWDC more details will surely be leaked and perhaps more deals to be made. I am happy to finally have some Atv rumors floating around. I hope there is more to come regarding hardware updates, an app store and UI changes. Like Tim said at the watch event with the HBO deal "this is only the beginning" 
This is the year. By the end of it it'll be apparent to all that the cable industry as we know it is ending. Either they're going to dramatically improve their pricing and/or service and/or customer service, or they're going to be steamrolled when the networks decide to allow customers to go to them directly.
You could say the same for music, look how thats going. I rarely bought CD's because I got bored of the same music quickly. I'd spend £10 a year if that. Now I subscribe to Spotify and spend over £60 because I can listen to what I want when I want and there are no ads.
Same with iTunes programs, it would cost a fortune to buy every program/film I want to watch.
Why charge $30 and give me programs I don't want to watch, why not charge $30 and let me choose what I watch.
If it has adverts it should be free with a paid tier for non-ads, but I think these TV companies (SKY) have been so greedy and we accepted it that we won't see that. But I'd like the option of paying not to have ads.
Some of you lot aren't being ambitious enough with this. Why are you alright with just cutting the cable companies out. ala-carte is the way to go. Whats the best way of doing it, not what's currently possible.
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its only a matter of time before they cable internet companites start squeezing for bandwidth overages to make up for loss in cable tv sales ..... a merger that should never have been allowed to happen Comcast cough cough
Agreed, NBC on the other hand has Comcast as a parent company which is probably the biggest issue. I did read somewhere that NBC wanted to try and get an app on the ATV but, It would still require a cable subscription. So, They are not understanding this concept quite yet if that is the case.
Exactly. A la carte tv would be insanely expensive. People don't seem to realize this. Much more expensive than any cable package.
I've thought about cutting the cord many times but it makes zero financial sense.
You are deluded if you think this is coming to the UK. It will take a few years of it being in the USA before Apple start bringing it to other countries.
I do wish the Discovery Channels make an appearance join the regular AppleTV.
I would like some of the decent programming they have. I know not all the Discovery Channel stations provide the best, or like Animal Planet is 75% human shows (sure humans are animals, but hate when my son wants to watch animal shows and we are stuck with lots of Human shows, that could be on any of the other more defined [well, less defined now] discovery channels.)
I would like some of the decent programming they have. I know not all the Discovery Channel stations provide the best, or like Animal Planet is 75% human shows (sure humans are animals, but hate when my son wants to watch animal shows and we are stuck with lots of Human shows, that could be on any of the other more defined [well, less defined now] discovery channels.)
And would you be willing to pay $3/hour for commercial-free content?
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What he wants is iTunes, but paying a lot less. Which is totally unrealistic, as the content creators are not going to give it to him.
People fail to realize that this model can't work as it would be both insanely expensive and offer far less choices. There are many niche channels that would cease to exist because too small a number of people would want them and couldn't afford the cost to keep the station. Perhaps some of the channels you want would fall into this bundle. Next the main channels that a large percentage of people would want would start costing far more as the companies that owned those channels wouldn't have the revenues from other channels to subsidize the cost. ESPN would probably cost $30-50/month on its own without the revenues from all the other Disney channels coming in.
What everybody says they want is unrealistic at the price they would be willing to pay for it. You say let the market decide what the price would be but there would be no consensus of a fair market price for the viewers and the producers. What would happen in the long run is that more and more offerings would get slashed and quality would go down since subscribers wouldn't pay the networks required pricing. Networks would start reducing their pricing to bring on subscribers but would slash their production costs.
There is a model that works for networks and viewers and that inherently requires TV bundling. It allows networks to offer a multitude of channels at a price that the most people are willing to pay. Yes everybody grumbles about it but nature people get Discovery, historically inclined people get history channel, chefs get cooking network and sports aficionados get ESPN. If each of those were priced individually you wouldn't get 25% of the users purchasing each one but very few subscribers at all since each channel would seem far too expensive on its own. Sure somebody paying $100/month now might complain that they only care about ESPN but they are still paying $100/month. Separate it out and that person won't be willing to pay $60/month for ESPN and they will just opt out (and complain even more).
Aren't they going to have to beef up the Apple TV with all of this focus now being put on it?
I mean, so far, every time I reboot my 'media repository, I have to reboot the Apple TV's too. You would think that a company that could make the 'first real smartwatch', could make a device that could sit on your network, and automatically connect to your media server without having to go through the slow process of restart EVERY STINKING ONE OF THEM!!!
A friend of mine literally threw out the three he bought for his house because they DIDN'T WORK! He has Macs too, like me. I put up with the idiosyncrasies. Am I being a fool?
Apple: FIX THE APPLE TV SOFTWARE!!!
I mean, so far, every time I reboot my 'media repository, I have to reboot the Apple TV's too. You would think that a company that could make the 'first real smartwatch', could make a device that could sit on your network, and automatically connect to your media server without having to go through the slow process of restart EVERY STINKING ONE OF THEM!!!
A friend of mine literally threw out the three he bought for his house because they DIDN'T WORK! He has Macs too, like me. I put up with the idiosyncrasies. Am I being a fool?
Apple: FIX THE APPLE TV SOFTWARE!!!
A major overhaul to the Apple TV is long overdue. I guess it works for what it does, but it's not getting the attention as the other Apple products.
Would be great to see an alternate/original version of MTV where they actually just play music videos 24/7.All good... bring them all on!
You mean like they use to when they started out? Yeah... would be nice. Too much junk now.
I would rather pay the same and do without clunky cable boxes and interfaces.
Streaming services are month by month and you can drop and add them as you please. Cable needs contract and misleading pricing. Pass.
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This is a great point.
Just imagine if you put all the money you spend on cable towards itunes... You probably wouldn't even be able to find 100 dollars worth of stuff a month to watch. Plus you actually own it...
Well, you can accomplish some of that now, albeit by making some sacrifices and changing up some viewing habits. I do believe that the day will come when you can satisfy your tastes (for the most part) without multiple devices and remotes getting in the way.
But, my point is that don't assume that the convenience will come for any less than what you are already spending per month (which is what many people assume).
You're right, it just depends on the person. Personally I can already get what I want without cable with HBO Now (or HBO Go as I use now free with my parents cable), Hulu, and buying my favorite movies on bluray.
When reading the recent Apple TV news I knew there would be a lot of posts like this one. Most cord cutters will not be happy unless they can get all their favorite channels a la carte, without ads, for around $1 each.
I doubt this will happen anytime soon.
It seems like this bundle will include a lot of popular channels and assuming that NBC will eventually join on, the individual price break down for all the channels will be less than $1 each.
This is a big deal, and a step in the right direction.