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Apple Reportedly Set to Test Lowering Prices for Some Television Downloads to $1

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Apr 12, 2001
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Financial Times reports that Apple is set to begin a trial coinciding with the launch of the iPad that will reduce the price of certain TV downloads through its iTunes Store to $1 from the current $1.99. The trial will reportedly begin in April. Financial Times first reported late last month that Apple was seeking to persuade television networks to go along with the plan, and at least some of them seem to have accepted the trial in an attempt to spur demand.
Some television networks agreed to the lower prices after months of negotiations, and having initially resisted Apple's push. Media executives are under pressure from declining DVD sales and cut-rate rental services such as Redbox, that offer rental DVDs for $1.

It is not yet clear which or how many of the US free-to-air and pay-television networks have agreed to the lower pricing. Some media executives said they have not been approached with the new prices.
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Apple has also been rumored to be pursuing a monthly subscription package of "best of TV" downloadable content, and today's report indicates that Apple has not yet given up on that front either.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Set to Test Lowering Prices for Some Television Downloads to $1
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/10/apple-reportedly-set-to-test-lowering-prices-for-some-television-downloads-to-1/
This sounds like a follow up to a previous article on here just days ago, Apple will probably have "old" tv shows at this price point much like they do with movies and certain music........ Hey is it me or should this site be called Applerumors, cause we rarely hear anything Mac related these days :rolleyes:
 
iDisk said:
This sounds like a follow up to a previous article on here just days ago, Apple will probably have "old" tv shows at this price point much like they do with movies and certain music....... Hey is it me or should this site be called Applerumors, cause we rarely here anything Mac related these days :rolleyes:
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Maybe because not much going on with mac lately, besides some BestBuy screenshot of a deleted product! Plus, iPhone users do dominate here in most instances.

Regardless, this is good news. The 1.99 never bothered me for TV shows, I can stand that. It's the $1.29 music DL's that irk me. I'm all for paying 1.99 for TV shows I like and can have on all my devices forever.
 
great . . . but the apple tv is incredibly out of date given what it is able to do. i just can't imagine they're selling many new devices these days. when a ps3 or xbox has more functionality (other than buying and playing content from itunes), i have no reason to buy one.

i really want an apple t.v., but i want it to surf the internet. or i want a mac mini that can have the apple t.v. capabilities. eitherway, there's a gap between the apple t.v. and the mac mini that needs to be addressed. combining the two into a single product would be the perfect hybrid.
 
Although I know it's not going to happen, what would be great for me would be if there were no 'borders' and you could purchase TV content from other countries' stores. As it is I have to wait months and months before I can legally purchase episodes on my countries store and, in some cases, have no legal avenue to watch shows from other countries.

I understand the legal difficulties involved but I can still wish :)
 
Can't they make so there are commercials that can't be fast forward past like hulu? And gives us the option of $1 without commercials
and free with commercials.
 
Neotyguy40 said:
Go to:

www.applerumors.com

You will see...

Ontopic: This is awesome for us TV owners!
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All I have to do is hover over your link and it tells me it's macrumors lol :p ... you may get a non tech savvy person with that ;)

iphone1105 said:
Maybe because not much going on with mac lately, besides some BestBuy screenshot of a deleted product! Plus, iPhone users do dominate here in most instances.

Regardless, this is good news. The 1.99 never bothered me for TV shows, I can stand that. It's the $1.29 music DL's that irk me. I'm all for paying 1.99 for TV shows I like and can have on all my devices forever.
Click to expand...

It's GREAT news, for users, don't get me wrong I'm not downing the article.... Though I just thought that since the iPad hype was over with, we would start seeing the Mac Pro, Cinema Display, Notebook rumors, ya know!?

I guess I thought wrong
 
This is good because as of now people would sooner buy a mac mini and stream hulu onto their TV than buy an :apple: TV and pay for shows.
 
This would really boost my consumption. I download some stuff but not much-- I can't justify the cost, even to experiment. I wind up renting the discs. Get it down to a buck an hour and it gets close to what it costs to rent the disc.

And no, I don't want to rent the download, because renting bits is stupid. I also don't want commercials-- that's why I don't have an antenna or a cable.

pondie84 said:
Although I know it's not going to happen, what would be great for me would be if there were no 'borders' and you could purchase TV content from other countries' stores.
Click to expand...

I have had the dream of getting access to the international music catalog since iTunes started...
 
Good, and this is far over due. Networks are troglodytes for not enabling this sooner.

$1.99+tax is waaay too high for content that will be watched once, and is free through several legal mediums.

$0.99 for all shows, HD and SD, as there is simply no incentive to pay for HD TV shows. The content, no matter the show, is not visually significant enough to justify higher prices for higher quality...such practice only makes sense to me with higher production value projects such as movies.
 
What I think would really work is to "rent" TV shows. There are few shows I actually want to have forever and ever, but if I miss an episode or 2 and want to get caught up without dealing with commercials, there is no legal option other than buying them. Why can't I just pay $0.10/episode or something to cover the cost of revenue that the commercials on hulu would bring? I'm simply not going to pay $2 to watch a commercial-free episode that I will likely never watch again. Especially for shows like the daily show or colbert report, which deal with current events. Why would I ever watch them again and why would I pay $8/week?

The whole TV model is so incredibly outdated.
 
iDisk said:
All I have to do is hover over your link and it tells me it's macrumors lol :p ... you may get a non tech savvy person with that ;)
Click to expand...

You quoted me yourself. It says:

Code: 
www.appleinsider.com

Try typing it manually into your toolbar if you don't believe me!
 
happydude said:
great . . . but the apple tv is incredibly out of date given what it is able to do. i just can't imagine they're selling many new devices these days. when a ps3 or xbox has more functionality (other than buying and playing content from itunes), i have no reason to buy one.

i really want an apple t.v., but i want it to surf the internet. or i want a mac mini that can have the apple t.v. capabilities. eitherway, there's a gap between the apple t.v. and the mac mini that needs to be addressed. combining the two into a single product would be the perfect hybrid.
Click to expand...

I agree that it would be nice to have a device that fills that gap but until then I prefer the AppleTV to my other media extenders (even in its current state) because I can run XBMC and/or Boxee and view all of my entertainment easily and wirelessly if needed. My wife and I will also use the AppleTV to watch video podcasts, photo slideshows, and also internet radio.

Dropping the price of media would be nice, but will it be the newest and most desirable shows? If not, I doubt this price drop will have much impact.
 
I don't think redbox does much in the way of tv disc rentals at this point.

As for people getting bent out of shape about these rumors, do you think somehow Mac Rumors are not being reported because of these rumors?

Do you think Arn is too busy posting about iTunes to hear about a Mac rumor?

Come on people, the site has evolved and expanded in its scope. If there was a mac rumor they would post about it.

What the site does not need is for you people to crap on every news story that you don't care about.

I think you would find it very cumbersome if all the people here who don't care about stories you are interested in did the same. I am sure it could be arranged if you don't believe me.
 
TV shows should totally be as cheap or cheaper than songs. Most TV shows you watch once and then delete. Songs you listen to 100s of times over and over and over again.
 
I'm going to stick with syndication over the air unless a subscription model shows up. That or the library if I really want to watch some classic TV.

I only really hold onto my music. Movies and television shows are consumed much to quickly to own them
 
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