CBS Sports and USA NOW Channels Now Available on Apple TV [Update: And More]

[MacRumors]

The Apple TV has gained two new channels today in CBS Sports and USA NOW, bringing on-demand sports, drama, comedy, sitcoms and more programming to the set-top box in the United States. The new channels should be appearing on the Apple TV for all users today as an over-the-air update, with CBS Sports offering free sports clips for all users worldwide and USA NOW requiring a U.S. cable subscription to access most content.

CBS Sports channel for Apple TV​

The new channels arrive less than six weeks before Apple is expected to announce its next-generation Apple TV alongside a full-fledged streaming TV service at WWDC in June. The new A8-based set-top box will reportedly feature both an App Store and Siri, in addition to a redesigned remote control with a touch pad and significantly higher internal storage than the current 8GB model.

Apple's much-rumored streaming TV service will consist of a lightweight package of about 25 channels for between $30 to $40 per month, anchored by networks such as ABC, CBS and Fox. The service will be available on several devices, including the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, with other potential channels in the lineup including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, MTV, Comedy Central, FX and Nickelodeon.

USA NOW channel for Apple TV​

Apple has been steadily adding new channels to the Apple TV this year, including NBC Sports in late April, CNNGo and TED, Tastemade and Young Hollywood in March and Sports Illustrated's 120 SPORTS in January. HBO NOW, a subscription-based service that provides on-demand HBO content, also went live on Apple TV in early April for $14.99 per month with a free trial available.

Update 11:05 AM PT: Crave TV and Shomi are now available on Apple TV in Canada per Rene Ritchie, with the former requiring a Bell TV subscription and the latter needing a Rogers or Shaw subscription. French-German TV network Arte is also now available on Apple TV in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg per iFun.de. Fox Sports is also available in Australia, while Hopster has been added in the UK.

Article Link: CBS Sports and USA NOW Channels Now Available on Apple TV [Update: And More]

 

[driphone]

Keep adding...one more step closer to cutting cable

 

[FSUSem1noles]

Please add channels that DON'T require a cable subscription to watch!

 

[xlost6]

Please add channels that DON'T require a cable subscription to watch!

So much this. I'm sure it's coming though.

 

[MacDevil7334]

Apple TV is so desperately in need of an overhaul. This system of just having more and more channels clutter up the home screen with no real organization options aside from hiding unused channels has long outlived its usefulness. I really hope the rumors of a revamped Apple TV with a true App Store that might actually give me some control over the channels that show up on my device are finally going to turn out to be true this year. I've been disappointed too many years running to get my hopes up though...

 

[HenryDJP]

Please add channels that DON'T require a cable subscription to watch!

Keep adding...one more step closer to cutting cable

And the first post above is why your post isn't working. Those channels require paid subscriptions.

 

[John.B]

Dear Apple: This only helps if we can get the content without an existing cable subscription.

 

[ChrisCW11]

Can't wait for the "hopefully" NEW Apple TV

Perhaps Apple will adopt an amazing new concept as a Store model where I can actually choose what content I want to see on Apple TV rather then forcing it on me at regular intervals and having me spend time removing content I can't see because I am not subscribed or have a cable TV service.

Also, perhaps Apple will remove the "icon hunter" interface and allow me to search for all content available through the device instead of hunting for, clicking on, and then having to search within the icon's limited scope of content. Maybe I could even use my voice to find content, I bet nobody has done that before.

Alas, most likely the only way to use the new Apple TV properly is if I have an Apple Watch strapped to my wrist, knowing Apple.

 

[grimmace]

Now paying $72/mo with tax etc for high speed internet. All this "subscription" service is crap in my opinion. All they are doing is subdividing what is already out there. While that is good, this is still going to be $100+. Doesn't seem like a valuable option. What is to happen in the future? Every channel to have it's own cost? I'll stick with Hulu and Netflix for $20, along with the digital antenna for news etc.

 

[btbeme]

For some reason, posters here think that Apple is intentionally requiring paid subscriptions to watch these channels, and are hoping or demanding that "Apple" changes its policy.

It isn't Apple. That I can guarantee.

And, I can also guarantee that both the ATV interface AND the whole way that you watch TV will be radically different in the near future, depending on how the content providers want to play the game. It will likely take years before they fully agree to a radical overhaul of broadcast TV - there is an enormous amount of money at stake, and the licensing issues are unbelievably complex - but change is coming.

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Dear Apple: This only helps if we can get the content without an existing cable subscription.

It isn't Apple.

----------

Perhaps Apple will adopt an amazing new concept as a Store model where I can actually choose what content I want to see on Apple TV rather then forcing it on me at regular intervals and having me spend time removing content I can't see because I am not subscribed or have a cable TV service.

It isn't Apple.

----------

Please add channels that DON'T require a cable subscription to watch!

It isn't Apple.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Apple TV is so desperately in need of an overhaul. This system of just having more and more channels clutter up the home screen with no real organization options aside from hiding unused channels has long outlived its usefulness. I really hope the rumors of a revamped Apple TV with a true App Store that might actually give me some control over the channels that show up on my device are finally going to turn out to be true this year. I've been disappointed too many years running to get my hopes up though...

Agreed, the UI is a mess. The remote control is a mess. Please make it even smaller:-(

We should be able to enter all the info from our macs. (Maybe I missed whether that is possible)

Just bought my 85 year old parents the atv3 in Germany and set it up.

What a pain and so unApple like.

Interestingly enough it looks as if they do not have any agreements with German channels and I would assume not for local language channels in other countries.

That product has so much potential, but it needs to be scrapped and started over.

Right now it's just a box to get what is on my computer to the screen. Plus, may be a few channels.

The 30-40 dollar price is also not working, if you can't get all the listed channels for that.

 

[lovetheduns]

Now paying $72/mo with tax etc for high speed internet. All this "subscription" service is crap in my opinion. All they are doing is subdividing what is already out there. While that is good, this is still going to be $100+. Doesn't seem like a valuable option. What is to happen in the future? Every channel to have it's own cost? I'll stick with Hulu and Netflix for $20, along with the digital antenna for news etc.

It isn't so much the price for me it is the ability to have what I want and be able to cancel as fast I want without having to go through some hurdles to do so.

I HATE traditional TV. I don't want to have to rent a DVR or buy one and have yet another box so that I can avoid commercials. I want to be able to look at content when I want without all of the interruptions. I really enjoy HBONow - and I may decide after Game of Thrones to cancel for a few months or I may not. I love Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu (I suspend and renew based on content). its not so much the cost of cable that made me crazy, it was the cost of cable with all of the trappings, the equipment rental, the amount of commercials that made me hate cable - and the fact I couldn't just pick and choose the channel suite that i wanted.

 

[Jakexb]

This whole thing with adding "Now" and "Watch" to the names of the channels is going to look pretty silly in 5 years, like back when the internet was just getting going at everyone had to put an "e" at the beginning of their name to make sure everyone realized they were doing something weird on the internet.

 

[Daalseth]

Begin by

How about this for a start: Why doesn't Apple have a page listing what channels are on AppleTV. Ideally it would include what it comes with, what you need to subscribe to, and what only work if you already get it through your cable system.

I've looked all over and NOBODY will tell me what feeds AppleTV will supply. Not the Apple Web Page, not anywhere else on the web, not the Apple Stores (the sales people kinda mumble and look at their feet when I ask), nowhere. I see lots of news stories like this one about this or that channel being added but no comprehensive list.

I want to cut the cable. I'm really interested in the AppleTV. But if they won't tell me what it provides then no deal.

 

[autrefois]

For some reason, posters here think that Apple is intentionally requiring paid subscriptions to watch these channels, and are hoping or demanding that "Apple" changes its policy.

It isn't Apple. That I can guarantee.

How can you be so sure Apple doesn't want this? Yesterday we heard rumors about this:

Apple Urging Music Labels to Stop Licensing Free Songs on Spotify and YouTube

Perhaps Apple's happy that users currently need a paid subscription since they may soon want customers to pay for Apple's own version of a subscription-paid service?

 

[gramtrax]

Netflix is great, but while Apple is (maybe) revamping Apple TV, let's hope they can convince Netflix that asking users EVERY SINGLE TIME "who is watching" (no we *don't* have kids this time, either, thank you very much), and randomly scattering their list of shows in no discernible rhyme or reason is NOT the best user experience possible.

 

[d21mike]

They need to add CBS All Access which is now on Roku. With CBS All Access for $6 and Hulu for $8 you would have all of the 5 major Networks for only $14 per month. Also since CBS owns Showtime how about a CBS All Access + Showtime Subscription. We are really close to having most channels on subscription.

We do need a live TV option for News as well.

 

[Kar98]

Another thing to hide. And these days I'm really using the AppleTV only to play third party content I added to iTunes. You know what I mean. Hulu, Netflix, YouTube look a lot better on the XBox One and are much easier to navigate.

 

[sillypooh]

That interface should have been refreshed/redesigned twice already by now. Even if they are planning something big for later. Yuck!

 

[oneMadRssn]

For some reason, posters here think that Apple is intentionally requiring paid subscriptions to watch these channels, and are hoping or demanding that "Apple" changes its policy.

It isn't Apple. That I can guarantee.

And, I can also guarantee that both the ATV interface AND the whole way that you watch TV will be radically different in the near future, depending on how the content providers want to play the game. It will likely take years before they fully agree to a radical overhaul of broadcast TV - there is an enormous amount of money at stake, and the licensing issues are unbelievably complex - but change is coming.

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It isn't Apple.

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It isn't Apple.

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It isn't Apple.

It is Apple. It is Apple who is choosing to allow CBS/ABC/NBC/Fox to install their App that required cable subscription on every Apple TV and not allowing Tablo or Simple.tv to install their App that allows someone to watch those same channels legally without a cable subscription. Or where is the Sling TV app? Amazon Prime Video app?

If you read the forums Tablo and Simple.tv, the develops have tried reaching out to Apple. There was a rumor that Sling also tried getting on AppleTV. Can't speak about Amazon, but I am sure they would love to be on it as well. In all these cases, Apple is the roadblock.

As long as Apple is intentionally picking the Apps that require a cable subscription, it might as well be Apple itself requiring the cable subscription.

None of that you can blame on complex license issues. There is no reason AppleTV can't match Roku app for app, except for Apple's intentional decisions.

 

[QCassidy352]

Now paying $72/mo with tax etc for high speed internet. All this "subscription" service is crap in my opinion. All they are doing is subdividing what is already out there. While that is good, this is still going to be $100+. Doesn't seem like a valuable option.

This. It's a good idea in theory, but if your internet is 70 and this is 30-40, and HBO is 15 by itself... You much as well just pay the $125 that Comcast costs and do it all in one shot.

 

[jtrauscht]

Between my internet bill and the combined fees for all of my "cable-cutting" replacements, I may as well go back to cable. Thanks to premiums that Comcast charges due to streaming, my last internet bill was $89. Netflix and Hulu+ are each $9. That's $107 for being a "cable-cutter." And I still don't have any live sports. Adding another service doesn't make any sense for me.

 

[2457282]

Tim, PLEASE stop the madness. Stop adding channels that require cable subscription. This is of no use. If I have cable I dont need the Apple TV to see those channels and if I am a cable cutter (I am), this is utterly useless.

And while I have your attention. PLEASE send me my watch already.

 

[Dennison]

Apple TV is so desperately in need of an overhaul. This system of just having more and more channels clutter up the home screen with no real organization options aside from hiding unused channels has long outlived its usefulness. I really hope the rumors of a revamped Apple TV with a true App Store that might actually give me some control over the channels that show up on my device are finally going to turn out to be true this year. I've been disappointed too many years running to get my hopes up though...

This this this this this this this this this.

I've had so much trouble with the latest model of ATV. Mine resets by itself A LOT. A whole lot more than it should. The UI on the ATV is an absolute atrocity. I hate the tiny dinky hard to hold remote. I've had lots of pink screen / HDMI cable compatibility issues. Air Play works BARELY 50% of the time, and I'm definitely sure I don't have connection and/or signal interference issues.

The Apple TV is the worst Apple product experience I've ever had and it needs a COMPLETE do-over.

 

[2457282]

For some reason, posters here think that Apple is intentionally requiring paid subscriptions to watch these channels, and are hoping or demanding that "Apple" changes its policy.

It isn't Apple. That I can guarantee.

And, I can also guarantee that both the ATV interface AND the whole way that you watch TV will be radically different in the near future, depending on how the content providers want to play the game. It will likely take years before they fully agree to a radical overhaul of broadcast TV - there is an enormous amount of money at stake, and the licensing issues are unbelievably complex - but change is coming.

----------



It isn't Apple.

----------



It isn't Apple.

----------



It isn't Apple.

Yes it is.
Yes it is.
Yes it is.

Why the hell put content on ATV that requires cable subscription. If I have the content on my cable box, I dont need the ATV for this. Either give me content that does not require cable subscription, or dont give it to me. it is utterly useless and a waste of time.