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Please no. These will be shows according to Apple's diversity standards. So every shows has at least one black transgender who is married to a girl whose sister misses at least one arm.

Focus on good products with enough ports, good keyboards etc.

This isn't funny. Not even a little. If you don't like diversity leave the country, it's what it was built on.
 
I would prefer if Apple just killed the Apple TV altogether. Personally, "exclusive" and "original" programming is a turn off. It's one of the reasons my wife and I might be canceling Netflix soon. I don't care for their original content and thats all they seem to push now instead of trying to get rights to stream good movies and tv shows.
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Ugh... NOT funny. Please don't quit your day job.

Have you watched any of the original stuff? It's amazing... they can do so much that network can't do, its like cable.
[doublepost=1454158276][/doublepost]Apple needs to offer all channels a la cart. Pretty sure the cable companies would hate this which is why they won't allow it. and TV networks want too much money. Apple just needs to throw some of their $200B in cash to get this deal done and really revolutionize the way we watch TV. Once that happens, they'll corner the market when people realize it's the best way to watch TV.
 
This is great news - Apple should team up with Netflix and Amazon to create content.

They all have a common goal here - crushing the power that the cable companies have.

Agree, Apple and others have tried to be reasonable but were forced into charging $30+ for their "skinny bundle" AND didnt even get all the channels they wanted. I thought from the start the the "providers" were going to do all they could to sabotage this and Apple should just go direct to the content creators and lure them away. I also think a great way to jump start what they want would be to bring back shows that were stupidly cancelled. They have a built in audience that is craving the show. Like what Netflix did with Arrested Development. Start by bringing back Copper or Deadwood or The Red Road, then move on to originals
 
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Have you watched any of the original stuff? It's amazing... they can do so much that network can't do, its like cable.

Apple needs to offer all channels a la cart. Pretty sure the cable companies would hate this which is why they won't allow it. and TV networks want too much money. Apple just needs to throw some of their $200B in cash to get this deal done and really revolutionize the way we watch TV. Once that happens, they'll corner the market when people realize it's the best way to watch TV.

Now I really don't know if Apple is this smart. Once they get in the game won't they just want to enjoy the profits. Does Cook really want to revolutionize the TV industry?
 
It’s a killer and I think makes the consumer end up paying more altogether. It’s terrible in the world of games consoles. Right now to play everything I want I think I need a Mac, xBone and a PS4.
That’s about £1600 excluding games!! (Admittedly I could get a cheaper gaming PC).

A customer of what,pays more???? Surely not cable. I had cable and with my
digital cable
HD service
2 HD digital boxes with DVR
HBO and Starz
I was paying about $140 a month add on my internet and I was at over $180 and that was 2 years ago, im sure it would be $200+ now.
Conversely after getting rid of cable and adding Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Im at $27/month. I upped my internet speed and even including that im only at $93/Month but in both scenarios I was paying for internet so I wouldnt even count that. At best I would count the increased speed price which was about $20.
I certainly haven't ended up paying more and I have more content that I actually want and watch. I wasn't watching The Oprah channel along with almost 80% of the other garbage and Im not paying more,in fact significantly less. To the tune of almost $100 monthly
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Do you watch The Expanse? IMO it's the best sci-fi show in years.
I tried to watch, saw first couple eps and gave up. like Dark Matter though...its not great but watchable.
 
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Could this be the point when they stretch themselves too thin? I kinda miss the Apple that was so heavily focused on great software being paired with great hardware. Do they really need to become their own picture studio now?


Well it certainly is more inline with their business model than an electric car. At least Apple has been in the media business for like 15 years now since the original iPod.
 
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Oh, that Eddy - with him everything that Apple does is world-beating

When last time we touched base with him he said - "Apple believes the app is a "really, really important application for the world"

Now it's "Apple TV will revolutionize the world"

Apple is vying to become yet another ... Over-sell, under-deliver ... corporation.
 
Why not, the more the merrier. I hope they crush it. Might eventuallly give other media companies the kick in the ass they've been needing for a while.
Exactly! Competition is always a good thing. The provider(s) that has the best content will attract the most viewers.
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Not really sure that Apple should go into the producing industry. But if they did, I think the best scenario would be as part of a streaming service like Netflix. If it's just to create content to sell on iTunes - there's little point. They can make more money leveraging other people's content and just getting their cut.
Agreed. A very large portion of consumers have discovered the value of streaming. I, for one, used to buy countless DVDs. Lately, it has to be something really special for me wanting to own it. Hard to argue with most streaming service costs when one months cost is equal or less than the price of a single DVD.
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Could this be the point when they stretch themselves too thin? I kinda miss the Apple that was so heavily focused on great software being paired with great hardware. Do they really need to become their own picture studio now?

I understand your concern, but I sincerely doubt OS X or iOS developers would be pulled from their positions to focus on TV. If Apple does decide to go this way, they will certainly hire people who excel in that area. More jobs. More reasons to own Apple hardware.
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Not many original ideas coming from Apple leadership these days. Seems like they are late to the party again if they are really considering this.

It saddens me to say, but these days, Apple reacts to markets rather than creating them.

IMO Apple has almost always reacted to markets. The iPod was not the first mp3 player; it was the first good one. The iPhone was not the first smartphone; it was the first good one. Etc., etc.
 
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Isn't that supposed to be one of the reasons oft-quoted to disparage Google?

There seems to be some folks who don't understand/realise how new TV series come to fruition, or how expensive they are to make. Take a TV show that's relatively cheap, say something like a cop show. To make a single "hour"* of scripted drama like this costs a fair few millions of dollars. It's not a case of sticking a few actors in front of a camera and hoping the best. You have lots of behind camera departments that cost money that are needed to make something semi-watchable. There's camera personnel, riggers, costuming, electricians, props, scenery, effects(both physical and CGI), editing, sound, music, just to name a few. These people don't work for free. Nor do the actors. For a more complex show with multiple locations, more complex requirements, such as Game of Thrones, and you're well into the tens of millions required before you even shoot the first scene.

Content makers don't want to gamble many tens of millions of dollars/pounds creating a whole series of a show upfront, without at least a fairly good chance of making their money back. They *may* sometimes make a pilot episode to try to sell the show, but even that's not true all the time. The show concept or pilot then gets offered to various Delivery Providers (such as Broadcasters like BBC, CBS, NBC, ITV, Fox, or streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, etc), who offer to buy the series so it can be made. There is also the fact that Content makers will be selling the content into multiple markets at the same time (USA, Canada, UK, Australia, etc).The Delivery Providers (in the case of the Broadcasters) do this generally based on the back of the fact that they know that they can sell advertising to various market segments around such programming, so that they make the money back.

Even if a show is a flop, they have already sold the advertising space, so the show production has been paid for. If a show is taken off air, you usually don't get an immediate replacement by a brand new show because it takes time to make a new replacement show. There are cases where mid-season replacement shows are prepped ahead of the January timeframe, where a show that was on the cusp of being commissioned at the start of the season is offered a half-season in place of a show that's performed poorly. A classic case in point is Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

Now imagine this new scheme where Delivery Providers are cut out of the loop.Content providers will not fund a multi-million pound/dollar full series production on their own without it being already sold to someone. So, someone has to pay the money upfront to make this show. That money has to come from somewhere, so the new Distribution "channel" has to price delivery of that show based on at least breaking even. If it's a service that isn't supported by advertising, that per show/episode cost to the end user (us) goes up even further. Even the almighty Apple is not a fortune teller. They can't tell how popular some new show may be, so they will err on the side of caution in the pricing the show to users. Suddenly you're finding that your price in this new streaming "utopia" for that TV show you like is a couple of dollars/pounds *per episode*. Say you like four or five shows, a series of 22 episodes, and now you're paying a lot more for a lot less.....

* It's not really an hour, of course. It's actually 44 to 46 minutes to allow for the advertising slots on broadcast TV


Well said. This topic is always frustrating because a lot of people don't acknowledge the rich diversity and quality of product right now is largely due to the predictable revenue of the existing model. AMC can take a flier on purchasing a show like Breaking Bad because they know the set revenue they will get from cable/satellite companies.
There is this fantasy that a la carte programming will result in cheaper costs and the same quality of programming. If each individual network has to 'pay their own freight' for content, there will be a push to the lowest common denominator and cheaper shows. And the likely result is that a 'skinny' bundle will still likely cost clost to what we pay for the whole buffet.

Even worse is the people who dream of all this ad free. Ads subsidize a huge portion of the cost for consumers. That money has to be made up somewhere....and guess who's bill will get hit.

Unfortunately there has been a Netflix/Spotification effect with a lot of consumers...ESPECIALLY with millennials. My 18 year old daughter loves Netflix and Spotify. And in her world, she sees no reason why she shouldn't get all the quality TV, movies and music she likes for $10 a month. But she isn't putting together that the cost for 99% of Netflix content was paid for by cable/satellite fees (and box office sales in the case of movies) and she's just accessing what is essentially 'gravy money' for the distributors.

There is no easy way to move to that model full time without a huge shift in cost to the consumers. Which is why Apple has been failing miserably in this space. They are trying to talk the content providers into taking a less secure revenue stream for less money and want to charge Apple's margin to deliver it. DOA.
 
Bring it on. No reason Apple can't offer iTunes as a model to studios to release movies/TV shows like they do for music.
 
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It makes sense, if they can't get deals with networks like they hoped, I guess.

Just seems like Apple is jumping on a lot of bandwagons now. iPhone and MacBook sizes to match competitors, Apple Watch was late to the smart watch party, iPad Pro clearly competing against the existing Surface Pro, Apple Car Vs Tesla... now they're going to go against Netflix and Amazon. I get it. I just hope we see new products that people who didn't think they want or need, love.

Amazon and Netflix just started doing shows within the last 2 years... Not like it's a tradition.
Jobs only had 2-3 breakthrough in 30 years, doing completely new categories is very rare.
What distinguishes Apple is mostly not originality, but how well existing concepts are implemented.
Wonder why this needs to be constantly repeated.
People are switching from buying thing to renting things; if Apple didn't switch to streams they'd lose out on an area they have dominated; it's just a natural extension of what they did before.
 
Makes me wonder who the next "Apple" will be. A company that tirelessly works to perfect its relatively small array of hardware and software. I'd prefer that my Siri worked again, and wasn't told that, "Apple engineers are working on the problem." Maybe they aren't spread too thin, but it sure feels like it to a longtime user of their products.
 
Bring it on. No reason Apple can't offer iTunes as a model to studios to release movies/TV shows like they do for music.

It's apples and oranges.

After the whole Napster episode, the music industry's distribution model was irreparably damaged. They were never going to be able to go back to relying solely on selling a full CD of content to make money. iTunes offered a way to monetize the digital sales of music in a win/win scenario. (Though most artists - the content creators- probably make less from this arrangement and have to rely on live performance to make money.

The television/movie market is the exact opposite. The current model is a lot of money and the cable/satellite 'bundle' model provides a reliable source of revenue. While there are a few cord cutters and some networks are dabbling in direct distribution, there isn't the 'crisis' that compels change. That's why Apple isn't making headway.

(BTW - Apple does distribute movie and TV show content. But most people don't want to pay the price it costs for shows/movies.)
 
If Apple wants to start to make its own content, They should just buy someone. The best fit would be Disney. They have a ton of stuff that Apple could leverage like Star Wars and the Marvel movies. If they just want to dip their toes in I guess they could buy Netflix or one of the smaller studios
 
Please Apple, stop spreading yourself all over the place and focus on Mac software and hardware. The pro's who use it would appreciate.
But that's not their company mission, nor has it ever been. It has always been to be the best consumer computer manufacturer. As times Chang that has been updated from just computers and the diversity of computers has changed from computing to consuming and communications.

They originally failed at making the best consumer computer. It was 3x as expensive as it was aimed at (Macintosh) and so the company morphed into a niche pro market company. Which was never where they intended to be. When Steve came back heal most immediately put an end to it and started making iMacs, iBooks, and then iPods. He always saw video editing and publishing as something people would actively do in the home. Final cut was purchased for this purpose originally, but it was too good and the pros embraced it. Steve had no problem axing the entire pro division once he had created a more prosumer friendly alternative in iMovie and FCPX.

Us pros hate to admit it, but we have never been Apples focus.
 
If Apple is going to start paying for exclusive content as part of some subscription TV service I get it. But if they're thinking of becoming production studio or doing stuff in house I think it's a big mistake. What does Eddy Cue know about creating TV shows? I don't even think Netflix produces stuff in house do they?

THIS,

...I'D love to see Apple link up with Netflix and make an incentive to buy the apple tv but idk about the exclusive content... but if anyone can do it, apple can.. only problem is that they'd probably charge and arm and a leg for it...

Netflix and Hulu are already doing an awesome job at cutting the cord... apple needs to stick to their job and facilitate and get companies onboard with cord cutting

i think everyone is waiting for apple to bring down the Big Cable Monopolies.... and im sure that they will
 
All these channels provide is already made movies coupled with original content (example HBO).
If they don't want to cooperate, Apple can make same channels and distribute for lower cost: already made movies plus original Apple-sponsored content. Content is the king. Think MS Office costed 200 hundred dollars and wasn't good for Mac. Enter Pages, Numbers and Keynote for free.


Consumers will win, and thats Apple does best. So I view it as a way to force TV companies to lower their unreasonable prices for their sht content. You still will need some news shows and etc which consumers used to. CNN, BBC will be available for free, I guess.

Otherwise, these TV channels give Apple green light to go ahead. Taking into account Apple's ties with Hollywood and Disney, Apple can make 10 such channels in a year and it will cost them a small change in their 200 billion reserves. It will greatly enhance value of AppleTV though.

For example, Apple could create such channels as Movies, TV Shows, Technology, Science, Fashion and Design, News, Business, Kids and Education, Disney Shows, Disney Movies and just hire independent shows and content providers and you will have great and quality content even without Apple' sponsored stuff. They could actually use Apple iAd platform either.
 
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Could this be the point when they stretch themselves too thin? I kinda miss the Apple that was so heavily focused on great software being paired with great hardware. Do they really need to become their own picture studio now?

Rememeber when Apple made just computers? As the landscape evolved, the company branched out. It didn't sell music before iTunes. It didn't sell digital media players before the iPod. It didn't sell phones before the iPhone. Now it also sells tablets, watches, TV boxes etc.

Every company alive has made some changes to survive. There's a tendency to think this is Apple stretching itself, but Apple has a ton of cash and experience selling media through iTunes. This is WAY less ambitious than something like a car would be.

Ever since Apple started hitting snags so content providers, I've thought it needed to just make its own networks. After years of consolidation, only a handful of companies own TV networks. Netflix, Amazon and adding Apple would be a great way to re-divest media.
 
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