New 4K Now TV box UK announcement / 29th June

[Richard28]

Another provider comes out with a 4K UHD solution... plus some "other announcements" are due to be made...

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/137852-now-tv-4k-box-and-more-to-be-announced-on-29-june

Will be interesting to see what will be on offer, if it offers Amazon and Netflix in addition to current content then it will give all the major UK broadcasters.. and job done for most UK needs.

Also price will be interesting, as current HD Now TV box retails for only £14.99

Apple TV are falling behind the curve in the UK (well top be honest they have never been on the curve)... lack of any new content from the UK's main broadcasters is hindering its appeal... not to mention lack of 4K..... are you listening apple?

 

[Jamie0003]

How is it Apple's fault the UK broadcasters haven't made an app yet? It's likely a 4K capable Apple TV will be out sometime this year, be patient.

 

[Richard28]

How is it Apple's fault the UK broadcasters haven't made an app yet? It's likely a 4K capable Apple TV will be out sometime this year, be patient.

The problem is that Apple have employed the "field of dreams" concept to the Apple TV... i.e. "if you build it, they will come"

The problem is, for whatever reasons, years later and now on the 4th Apple TV model, the main UK networks have still not come.

Neither ITV, C4, Channel 5 on the device, and BBC only recently onboard, but still not on the ATV3 (not to mention Amazon of course... but thats another story I guess)

These TV boxes are all about TV content... if you don't get the content you don't get people on board.

Now TV, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, LG, Samsung have all attracted these broadcasters, but not Apple... I think it is a question that should be asked...why is this?

Apple should be encouraging these broadcasters, pushing them, enticing them... but they are seemingly not and the content continues to stay away from the Apple TV.

The ATV4 has the potential to be a great device... I just find it frustrating that apple in the UK is doing pretty much bugger all to get the basic level of content on it.

I'm on the verge of upgrading my ATV3 box to another manufacturer (Now TV could be it).. and if I go away from apple, then it is one less reason to have an iPhone, one less reason to have apple music.... one less reason to have an iPad... etc etc

Its frustrating to see such potential in a device unexplored and unloved. I don't want to move from apple, but they are not meeting any needs in the UK at this point from a TV perspective....

 

[2010mini]

The problem is that Apple have employed the "field of dreams" concept to the Apple TV... i.e. "if you build it, they will come"

The problem is, for whatever reasons, years later and now on the 4th Apple TV model, the main UK networks have still not come.

Neither ITV, C4, Channel 5 on the device, and BBC only recently onboard, but still not on the ATV3 (not to mention Amazon of course... but thats another story I guess)

These TV boxes are all about TV content... if you don't get the content you don't get people on board.

Now TV, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, LG, Samsung have all attracted these broadcasters, but not Apple... I think it is a question that should be asked...why is this?

Apple should be encouraging these broadcasters, pushing them, enticing them... but they are seemingly not and the content continues to stay away from the Apple TV.

The ATV4 has the potential to be a great device... I just find it frustrating that apple in the UK is doing pretty much bugger all to get the basic level of content on it.

I'm on the verge of upgrading my ATV3 box to another manufacturer (Now TV could be it).. and if I go away from apple, then it is one less reason to have an iPhone, one less reason to have apple music.... one less reason to have an iPad... etc etc

Its frustrating to see such potential in a device unexplored and unloved. I don't want to move from apple, but they are not meeting any needs in the UK at this point from a TV perspective....

Content is king as you know. But you have to realize there is some bad blood between Apple and content owners. They do not want to give Apple the slightest advantage for fear what happened to the music industry, happens to them. Content owners and providers are notoriously territorial. They have been fighting Apple every chance they get. And since they hold all the keys and are guarding every door, Apple, for all their influence are powerless.

 

[Richard28]

Content is king as you know. But you have to realize there is some bad blood between Apple and content owners. They do not want to give Apple the slightest advantage for fear what happened to the music industry, happens to them. Content owners and providers are notoriously territorial. They have been fighting Apple every chance they get. And since they hold all the keys and are guarding every door, Apple, for all their influence are powerless.

I get that, but BBC and Channel 4 are both public broadcasters, ITV is owned by ITV Network Ltd, and only 5 is owned by an international content owner, which is Viacom.

ITV, C4 and 5 all reply on advertising model and as such distribution is key, to block provision of their service from a particular device will restrict their viewing figures and income.

i still don't see how this cannot be made to work. Apple would derive no income, and these UK broadcasters would pay apple no fees for provision of their on demand services being made available on ATV.

this argument just does not fit.

 

[2010mini]

I get that, but BBC and Channel 4 are both public broadcasters, ITV is owned by ITV Network Ltd, and only 5 is owned by an international content owner, which is Viacom.

ITV, C4 and 5 all reply on advertising model and as such distribution is key, to block provision of their service from a particular device will restrict their viewing figures and income.

i still don't see how this cannot be made to work. Apple would derive no income, and these UK broadcasters would pay apple no fees for provision of their on demand services being made available on ATV.

this argument just does not fit.

Because they fear losing market share to Apple. Apple's brand casts a large shadow and any deals UK content owners have in place with other hardware manufactures will be jeapodized.

They do the same things to Netflix. For years Nexflix has been making money for content owners by buying entire catalogs of content. Unlike networks who purchase a few seasons via sindication. But these same content owners will buy rights to other shows and sit on them just to prevent Netflix from getting the rights to them. Makes no sense right?

 

[Richard28]

Because they fear losing market share to Apple. Apple's brand casts a large shadow and any deals UK content owners have in place with other hardware manufactures will be jeapodized.

Which goes back to my point, if UK broadcasters are afraid of Apple, then Apple needs to put some serious effort in and reassure these broadcasters.

If they cannot or will not do this, as would appear to be the case, then what is the point of Apple TV?

 

[Hermes Monster]

You can get the TV Player app for the ATV which has freeview channels on live, and the Now TV app for Sky content - obviously neither have 4K support.

It's definitely a personal thing, but I have absolutely no idea why so many people want or need catch up on the terrestrial channels. I can never find anything I want to watch on them, but that's just me.

 

[Richard28]

You can get the TV Player app for the ATV which has freeview channels on live, and the Now TV app for Sky content - obviously neither have 4K support.

It's definitely a personal thing, but I have absolutely no idea why so many people want or need catch up on the terrestrial channels. I can never find anything I want to watch on them, but that's just me.

If the tv player app is like the ios app then it has another layer of advertising to view content - so not the best.. also not HD feeds of the channels(?)

the other issue is that tv player is just a linear/live feed of the channels. Other than sport and news I do not watch any "linear" channels anymore - just select content I want to watch via a catch up service. If needed the linear feeds are currently much more accessible, and better quality through freeview.

Agree with you on quality of programming - all the more reason you want on demand services - so you just pick out the bits that are of interest...

 

[Hermes Monster]

If the tv player app is like the ios app then it has another layer of advertising to view content - so not the best.. also not HD feeds of the channels(?)

the other issue is that tv player is just a linear/live feed of the channels. Other than sport and news I do not watch any "linear" channels anymore - just select content I want to watch via a catch up service. If needed the linear feeds are currently much more accessible, and better quality through freeview.

Agree with you on quality of programming - all the more reason you want on demand services - so you just pick out the bits that are of interest...

Yeah you're quite correct, the quality is only SD and there's a "PLUS" option or something, to get additional channels.

I pay for SKY but very rarely watch it, apart from sport, and I just use a torrent site/showRSS to download the shows I want and then watch them on the Apple TV via the Infuse app This is the stuff the makes the Apple TV useful to me

 

[SpinalTap]

During the WWDC stream, iOS/tvOS interoperability was demonstrated. Purchased iOS apps would appear in the (Autumn release) AppleTV4.

It isn't clear if this is restricted to 'paid-for' apps, but the implication is that UK catch-up iOS apps displayed on your iPad from the BBC, ITV, C4 and C5 would similarly appear on ATV4.

 

[Snoopy4]

How is it Apple's fault the UK broadcasters haven't made an app yet? It's likely a 4K capable Apple TV will be out sometime this year, be patient.

Apples problem is that they think everyone is still using an ATV to watch TV on 32" sets off the bottom shelf at Walmart. I stuck one of ours in the home theater to see how it would look because the concept of having it all without having to get up and load a disc is spectacular. Unfortunately it was sad from a PQ standpoint, really sad. The other streaming services aren't much better in that regard, though Vudu HDX seems to have better blacks. I'm hopeful H.265 can fix this, but not holding my breath. 4K is needed to make it watchable on large format screens and that comes with a bandwidth demand level that not everyone can obtain because of infrastructure deficits of the ISPs.

 

[Richard28]

quick update the new Now TV box....

Has built in freeview tuner - so attempts to be an all in one box - yet it has no Netflix, no amazon prime.

Looks like a big fail to me.

 

[steve-p]

I wouldn't hold out any hope of Sky providing anything other than an average and slightly out of date service level at an inflated price. Now TV's live streaming is still SD apart from on ATV, and that's only 720p. The HDMI port on this new box cannot even do HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2, which probably rules out any other content providers doing 4K on it. And Sky don't really get the concept of 'streaming' anyway.

 

[satcomer]

quick update the new Now TV box....

Has built in freeview tuner - so attempts to be an all in one box - yet it has no Netflix, no amazon prime.

Looks like a big fail to me.

Then get the NVidia Shield and stop complaining!

 

[mrex]

i havent understood how they can talk lots about the consistence and ecosystem, but then they make parts which arent fully compatible to each other (new atv4 without 4k, imac 5k, iphone 4k recording....)

 

[Shanghaichica]

The problem is that Apple have employed the "field of dreams" concept to the Apple TV... i.e. "if you build it, they will come"

The problem is, for whatever reasons, years later and now on the 4th Apple TV model, the main UK networks have still not come.

Neither ITV, C4, Channel 5 on the device, and BBC only recently onboard, but still not on the ATV3 (not to mention Amazon of course... but thats another story I guess)

These TV boxes are all about TV content... if you don't get the content you don't get people on board.

Now TV, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, LG, Samsung have all attracted these broadcasters, but not Apple... I think it is a question that should be asked...why is this?

Apple should be encouraging these broadcasters, pushing them, enticing them... but they are seemingly not and the content continues to stay away from the Apple TV.

The ATV4 has the potential to be a great device... I just find it frustrating that apple in the UK is doing pretty much bugger all to get the basic level of content on it.

I'm on the verge of upgrading my ATV3 box to another manufacturer (Now TV could be it).. and if I go away from apple, then it is one less reason to have an iPhone, one less reason to have apple music.... one less reason to have an iPad... etc etc

Its frustrating to see such potential in a device unexplored and unloved. I don't want to move from apple, but they are not meeting any needs in the UK at this point from a TV perspective....

Apple are more interested in selling you content from iTunes. I guess for Apple there is no financial incentive in having 4od, itv etc on the Apple TV as these channels don't offer any paid services so in turn Apple can't get a cut.

Having an app is more convenient but you can AirPlay from 4oD and ITV. I've never tried from the channel 5 player so I don't know if it's possible.

 

[kiranmk2]

Apple are more interested in selling you content from iTunes. I guess for Apple there is no financial incentive in having 4od, itv etc on the Apple TV as these channels don't offer any paid services so in turn Apple can't get a cut.

Having an app is more convenient but you can AirPlay from 4oD and ITV. I've never tried from the channel 5 player so I don't know if it's possible.

But these apps suck with Airplay - ITV player seems to require mirroring + Airplay to work (eats the battery) and still frequently only transfers the audio requiring an app close and restart. All4 four frequently gets into advert loops (typically the last advert is repeated over and over).

iPlayer is really half-arsed, but at least it works. I would have thought Apple would have a bigger push into the UK - as mentioned the broadcasters here are separate from the internet companies so there would be much easier (=cheaper) to get the main 4-5 broadcasters on board. This would sell more ATVs which in turn could boost the number of iTunes sales...

Also look at the number of Siri search partners in the US compared to the UK - it's pathetic!