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Apple TV+ Reportedly Heading Toward 'Breaking Point' Amid Staffing Problems and Frustrated Content Partners

ksec said:
Where are the usual Macrumors commentators today? AppleTV+ was suppose to beat Netflix and Disney+ and will even outclass HBO. It is the best ever.
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They were the first streaming service to win an Oscar for best picture. What are you using as a ruler to measure with?

Basically, they won the World Series for movies. Didn't that beat Disney+ and Netflix and even HBO? Plus, all the streaming services and movie studios too!

Since you asked...
 
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Sounds like sour grapes to me. That said, Apple has deep pockets and should purchase an existing catalog and studio - with an established workforce and support team - to better adapt and deal with Hollywood. A back catalog would also help their subscriber numbers. Sony Pictures is ripe for a takeover.
 
yaxomoxay said:
Interesting. One of the technicians that worked on Severance said that it was total chaos, with wrong schedules and more importantly delayed paychecks; they often had to work without a paycheck.
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He was probably working in the macrodata refinement department. I hear it’s total chaos there. They’re not even allowed to visit Optics & Design
 
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I'm not surprised. We tried AppleTV+ and gave up. It doesn't take long to figure out most of the content is US audience centric AND focuses on a rather narrow demographic. Their shows also focus on the leading actors with plots or writing being an after thought. It's almost as if all creative control and approval goes back to Apple's marketing team. The incessant and blatant product placement is nauseating and distracting.

Compare this to Netflix who approves interesting and varied concepts then gets the hell out of the way of the creative people.

I had such high hopes given their expected attention to production quality but it's a monumental let down. Their apps to view and manage to the content only compounds this unless you've subscribed to a dozen streaming services, yet I'm not surprised given what an abject mess their iTunes and Podcasts apps have been. They should not be in the content business - they should stick to consumer devices.

Examples: Morning Wars should have been a rebirthing of a show like Newsroom, yet has more soap than laundry detergent. Greyhound seems to be a movie about a single guy on a boat - Tom Hanks.
 
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bhanson1 said:
I agree no need for one more streaming service especially with limited content. When my free trial is up in dropping
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I was pretty surprised with the quality of the content. I mean, who uses Apple TV? But I got a free 6 months trial so why not? First I watched Ted Lasso which is great and then I watched Defending Jacob which is great too. Mankind was cool at first but seems they don’t know where to go with it. So at least there were 3 shows really worth the subscription, especially since it’s so cheap. I watched CODA yesterday and it was great, also that Ben Stiller series is entertaining.

I don’t know, seems like the content is really good, the problem is that they have so little. Anyway, it did change my mind about the service and for the price I might as well keep the subscription just to avoid the hassle of resubscribing.

What I can’t keep is Netflix. The price is just way too high, you would need to be dropping hit after hit to justify it. Nobody really cares for what they are watching as long as there’s something to watch. I think a lot of people will just go to hbo max instead where they can see movie after movie.
 
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If Tim Cooke wants Apple+ to survive they should broaden their content to more MA stuff not just family, documentary, pg-13, or soft MA stuff. Apple+ could be so much more but with all the other competing streaming services their content lacks for me.
 
Now I am not surprised anymore that the app is so bad compared to other streaming services.

I actually cannot believe that the people designing the interface are using it an enjoy it.
 
ATV+ was always a hobby for apple and it’s being treated as one. All this ‘we’ll do it ourselves’ is hampering them with the service, they have billions in the bank. If they were really serious about the service they could have spent some cash on a ready built ready to go studio and added their own content to it gradually, that relieves some of the teething problems. Look at Amazon they just went and spent a few billion on MGM, apple missed the boat one that one. Then there was the Fox to Disney deal, fell asleep there too. It’s no surprise some are finding it difficult to keep the train on the tracks with a company that specialises in hardware the entertainment side of it is still relatively young I’m hoping they get it right and don’t give up on it.
 
ksec said:
Where are the usual Macrumors commentators today? AppleTV+ was suppose to beat Netflix and Disney+ and will even outclass HBO. It is the best ever. And Disney+ wont last 12 months.
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Let me chime in on this one, personal current status, for the last weeks:
  • Every weekend I watch the new episode of Severance (amazing), Servant (season ended) and We Crashed (it’s great too).
  • Starting Slow Horses later today to see what’s up (replaces Servant).
  • During the week I watch an episode or two of The Expanse (catching up with a brother of mine).
And that’s it, no more free time for that… sometimes I don’t watch anything during the week.

All of them conveniently cue in on the Up Next of the Apple TV app (something that Netflix vehemently refuses to implement for some reason).

I don’t know about whether it will beat any of the others, hardly think so, in December I saw Succession on HBO and that was epic but I’m definitely currently not watching it… nor Netflix, pandering Disney, Hulu, Funimation, Crunchy Roll, Tubi, Peacock, AMC+, none of the sports ones, etc. Was thinking maybe F1 TV but might just watch the Netflix season next year instead.

For real, I don’t know why pay any of the others currently when $5 a month for Apple TV does have its place and works for some in a similar situation…

Cleaning up the subscription laundry mess as we speak.
 
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garylapointe said:
They were the first streaming service to win an Oscar for best picture. What are you using as a ruler to measure with?

Basically, they won the World Series for movies. Didn't that beat Disney+ and Netflix and even HBO? Plus, all the streaming services and movie studios too!

Since you asked...
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Not relevant because CODA was already a finished product. All Apple did was purchase the rights to it and put it on their streaming service, that's it. It was a ready made product that suited Apple because they did not have to put any of their own resources into making it.
 
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JippaLippa said:
Perhaps it might have sounded like I don't like Apple TV+.
I actually pay for it and I love it.
I just think it needs a little extra push.
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I just don't believe this "Let's pay to create our own content and fund it solely with a streaming service for that content" is sustainable in anyway. Netflix is finding that out the hard way. They dump ungodly amounts of money on terrible content, because the owners of good content have all pulled the plug on Netflix, thinking they can make 2x the revenue by "doing their own video app".

It's bound to be taken over entirely by mega corps like Apple that have other revenue streams to subsidize the content creation. The bad part is they don't have enough skin in the game, so they can produce only the content they want, that follows their political and social messaging. A real production studio doesn't have the luxury, they have to make content that actually sells.
 
Spock said:
The worlds most valuable company, and they can't afford to hire talent? They could literally buy out any studio they want. This is not something that I would have expected to see.
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Money w/ no talent won't do you any good. Apple is throwing billions into building a car and is having the most difficult time. Elon even said they hired thousands of engineers so it's no surprised that they are trying to build a car. They just need time to get more talent for their tv dept. I don't see how they can challenge Disney or Netflix at their current pace. They have no recognizable IP. They are still giving their subscription away for free to buff up their numbers. Netflix is pumping in 15B+ every yr in new content, new IPs, new shows, licensinging IPs, etc... Apple has the most cash. Not sure why they aren't matching Netflix.

This notion of quality over quantity is BS. Netflix has both quantity and quality. They had THE BIGGEST show last yr in Squid Game. Apple has what? An art movie that won an Oscar? I rather watch Spiderman No Way Home 100x over the art movie.
 
Sounds like pretty typical “success problems”, they need to scale up much faster than they thought.

Still sucks for those on the production end. :(
 
My problem with AppleTV+ is that it was
a) a stupid name. They had an app called AppleTV... Doesnt seperate itself from the curation app.
b) Hard to find the content for noobs. Ask a 70 yr old to find AppleTV+ and they will not have a clue how to get to it.

I remember when I subscribed, there was no welcome tutorial or onramping. They just expected you to know you go to AppleTV app, click on the Apple TV+ section and see their content there. There is no demarcation of AppleTV "content you'd like/watched" and "Hey, this is the streaming service you signed up for". It's chaotic and poorly rolled out.
 
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ksec said:
Where are the usual Macrumors commentators today? AppleTV+ was suppose to beat Netflix and Disney+ and will even outclass HBO. It is the best ever. And Disney+ wont last 12 months.
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This report is all behind the scenes stuff. Some of it may be true but it feels more like one or two shows complaining and an article that is applying those complaints across an entire service. Meanwhile, viewers are seeing so many great new shows arriving every week. AppleTV+ is starting to feel a little like Netflix except the content is mostly good instead of mostly bad.

My only complaint with AppleTV+ is the platform itself. Apple TV software is getting worse and worse at dealing with subscriptions to new streaming services, billing and logins. They need to fix the technical stuff but the creative stuff is right up there with HBO. I'm expecting many Emmy nominations an a few wins this year.
 
Smith288 said:
My problem with AppleTV+ is that it was
a) a stupid name. They had an app called AppleTV...
b) Hard to find the content for noobs. Ask a 70 yr old to find AppleTV+ and they will now have a clue how to get to it.

I remember when I subscribed, there was no welcome tutorial or onramping. They just expected you to know you go to AppleTV app, click on the Apple TV+ section and see their content there. There is no demarcation of AppleTV "content you'd like/watched" and "Hey, this is the streaming service you signed up for". It's chaotic and poorly rolled out.
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a) Disney+, Paramount+, etc... it's a trend so Apple's not the only one. That doesn't make it smart but I think it makes it obvious what to expect when everyone else is doing the same thing too.

b) Every AppleTV app (on AppleTV, iPhone, Mac, iPad) has tabs labelled, Watch Now, AppleTV+, Store, etc. If you go to AppleTV+ tab, it shows every original show by Apple. Not sure how they could make it any simpler. You might be getting confused with Watch Now which includes popular content from Apple and every other streaming service and also changes regularly based on what you are watching or subscribe to. Also, I remember the early days of AppleTV+ included welcome/tutorial videos by celebrities in a few of these tabs. I didn't find them very useful but they were there. I think there are too many shows now so they have removed them to make more space.
 
yaxomoxay said:
Interesting. One of the technicians that worked on Severance said that it was total chaos, with wrong schedules and more importantly delayed paychecks; they often had to work without a paycheck.
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That is not possible since Ben Stiller is the producer for Severance.
Apple TV+ is only the distributer.
 
garylapointe said:
They were the first streaming service to win an Oscar for best picture. What are you using as a ruler to measure with?

Basically, they won the World Series for movies. Didn't that beat Disney+ and Netflix and even HBO? Plus, all the streaming services and movie studios too!

Since you asked...
Click to expand...
I think you are putting much to weight on the Oscar's. For years it has been all bull honkey. You don't win it because you made the actual best picture, you win because of who is in it or wrote it or who gives the most contributions to the charity that makes them look good or judt so they make sure they are politically correct.. It's all just a dog and pony show now since you can just walk up a slap someone.
 
Folks crap the bed at planted heresay. Nothing new. BusinessInsider owned 55.5%/45.5% Axel Springer/KKR are notorious conservatives, especially KKR that are akin to wanting and somewhat become Robber Barons of today, specifically KKR.

KKR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlberg_Kravis_Roberts

Axel Springer SE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Springer_SE

Between Barclays and this plant the stock drops back down for no reason whatsoever. The upcoming Quarterly will crush expectations including Services targets.

Vurrently, Apple is expanding their interests in AppleTV+ and steadily growing viewership, quarterly.
 
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