Your News+ argument doesn't really apply as you get the full contents with Apple TV Channels. If you prefer third party app's UI and/or website, that's another reason entirely.https://www.macworld.com/article/33...like-hbo-now-showtime-and-cbs-all-access.html
Here's an article detailing known "channels" pricing vs native app pricing. After reading this, there's not much incentive to buy any channels through the tv app. In fact, it kinda reminds me of apple news+. Can you view the whole hbo library within the tv app? Because you won't have access to hbo's native apps. As in news+, apple will recommend what to watch. Perhaps you can search for what you want? How lame is that?
What am I missing here? Do most of you want one app that tries to integrate all these streaming services? It would seem to me that it LIMITS the experience of each service in terms of what you get with their native app..and it COSTS THE SAME or more considering there's no annual pricing for channels. It ends up being a mess...like the News app.
There are several compelling advantages to using Apple TV Channels.
- Video from Apple TV Channels is streamed from Apple. Bitrates are generally higher and at least during this beta testing period, much more reliable.
- You get Family Sharing, or 6 simultaneous streams.
- You can download the show for offline viewing.
- Centralized subscription management is a huge plus as I subscribe when the season starts and unsubscribe when I finish the season.
- TV app is generally better than most third party apps.
For one, iOS TV app is dreadful. It's slow, way too crowded (similar to News+ app), cannot be customized, and video playback UI is poorly designed (not even rewind/forward buttons and scrubbing is very difficult to execute).
And finally, Apple should offer yearly subscription pricing option for those that prefer it.