A new report from Variety today (via iClarified) suggests that Showtime's parent company CBS is putting the final touches on a standalone streaming service for the premium cable network, with rumors pointing to an official announcement either later today or sometime on Thursday.
Just like HBO NOW, the service would allow customers interested in Showtime to circumvent a traditional cable subscription and gain access to all of the network's shows and films for a single monthly fee. Variety says that CBS will reveal a partnership with Apple and the Apple TV that will be the exclusive home of the Showtime online-only service, similar to HBO NOW's initial exclusivity window on Apple TV and iOS devices. CBS still plans for other online partners to be announced in the future, according to "industry sources."
No name or price model was detailed yet for the Showtime service, but as pointed out by Variety, the move would fall in line with the company's announcement last fall of a $6 per month streaming service that presented access to the network's library of old and new shows. With Showtime cable subscriptions aligning closely with that of HBO, the new service would undoubtedly fall in the ballpark of HBO Now's $14.99 per month charge.
Update: As expected, Showtime has confirmed the streaming service will officially launch on July 12 for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV. The monthly service will run users $10.99 and simply be called "Showtime." The early July launch will also coincide with the new seasons of Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex.
Article Link: Showtime's Standalone Streaming Service Set to Premiere on Apple TV [Updated]
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Showtime's Standalone Streaming Service Set to Premiere on Apple TV [Updated]
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$14.99 a month for Showtime? Um...I think not. Netflix is a steal at $8 tho
Oh I agree, I have one too. I don't use the Smart features at all, as it's so badly designed.
It's another perfect example of Samsung taking an Apple rumour and getting a version to market first, like watches, phone features, tablets, etc.
But as usual, it fails in every comparison to the Apple equivalent..
Perhaps we can still hold out some hope of Apple working on a front-end user interface to TV.
Homeland currently, Spartacus was amazing, but it is over now
woops, nevermind, spartacus was starz. homeland is all I got. Dexter was popular, but never watched it
I have been arguing this point with cord cutters forever. They are delusional in thinking a la carte would be $2 per channel. Like studios and networks would want to make less money than they do right now.
I do not believe I will save a lot of money on CONTENT. But I do expect to save money on Hardware. I currently pay close to $70 per month on Hardware. And I have an Apple TV on every TV as well. The other saving can be with Taxes. I dropped my Phone from my Triple Play and saved at least $10 per month in special taxes besides cost of phone service. I have the same for Video. Maybe mostly in California. I do not pay those kind of taxes for Netflix and Hulu. So my goal is a very high speed Internet (which will cost more without the bundle) and Stream everything else. I really hope Apple comes out with a superior interface and experience then I have now to get the wife to switch.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Correct. That's the goal for everyone else in the chain beyond us consumers. Nobody shares our desire to serve it all up at huge discounts. All that's really happening here is Apple is wanting to pile in on top (and take a cut too). To pay everyone already in + Apple means we probably have to pay a little more than we pay now on average.
We fool ourselves into thinking about cable as (total cost of cable bill)/(total number of channels) = (cost per channel)... so if I can buy just the channels I want, I should get a huge discount. The reality is that everyone else in the chain simply wants to make more money this year than last. They don't work in a mentality of evenly spreading the cost of programming over all channels. In fact, some channels pay them to be in our lists of 200.
So 200 channels at $100 per month will extrapolate into 20 channels at $100 month (or probably more so that Apple's cut gets included). And that's how all of the other links in the chain will want it... NOT cutting their own revenue throats to deliver us some discount. If al-a-carte modeling implied that the masses would run with just 10 channels instead of 20, expect those 10 to be priced at $100 per month or more. Preserving or probably increasing the monthly revenue stream will be the dominant driver of some change to a "new model".
And Netflix "as is" won't last at current rates. They are under great pressure to raise revenues. As contracts expire, they will lose desirable content much like they lost the Starzz content if they don't pay up. And paying up will pressure them to raise the monthly rate, tier their offerings with tiers being used to pull up the average monthly and/or to resort to other sources of revenues such as running commercials as they are now testing: http://time.com/3903995/netflix-testing-commercials/
I fully expect Netflix to raise rates and/or tier their offerings to raise average revenue-per-subscriber, and probably add commercials too. Else, I expect them to lose more desirable content as contracts end and content owners decide to follow the apparently more lucrative lead set by streaming al-a-carte offerings like HBO, CBS and now probably Showtime. I fully expect the same from Hulu as the non-CBS networks pay attention to how readily accepted CBS's streaming offering will be at $6 and grow interest that their content is worth at least that much too (what would you do if you were them?)
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I would like to make everyone aware, if they weren't already, that you (Hobe) have consistently stated with a very rational argument that a la carte would end up being more not less expensive. Seems like the closer we get to the new aTV the more lightbulbs are going on that you were spot on.
People are really hung up on price. Cable is like an expensive all you can eat buffet, but some guy keeps punching you in the face while you eat and bouncers at the door try to stop you from leaving.
I'm happy to pay the same or even more for the small number of channels I actually want to watch, without all the BS that comes with having cable TV.
I'm happy to pay the same or even more for the small number of channels I actually want to watch, without all the BS that comes with having cable TV.
House of Lies
Penny Dredful
Homeland
Nurse Jackie
Ray Donovan
Masters of Sex
And if you never saw it: Dexter
I have realized the initial dream of a la carte will not work financially for either the content providers or the end consumers.
But, my consolation is that Apple makes it dead easy to subscribe and drop. No messing with content providers gauntlet of "are you sure" questionaires and sales pitches. So while I may not have every channel every month (which I have realized is excessive and unnecessary anyway), I will put channels on a revolving calendar. HBO this month, Showtime next, perhaps Netflix afterwards. And go through back catalogs. I am not obsessive about television to "Must see TV" day and date.
But, my consolation is that Apple makes it dead easy to subscribe and drop. No messing with content providers gauntlet of "are you sure" questionaires and sales pitches. So while I may not have every channel every month (which I have realized is excessive and unnecessary anyway), I will put channels on a revolving calendar. HBO this month, Showtime next, perhaps Netflix afterwards. And go through back catalogs. I am not obsessive about television to "Must see TV" day and date.
You make a very solid point on hardware. We are moving, and subsequently HAVE to change media providers. I've done as much research as possible, even looking into using my Synology as a DVR for OTA TV (which is one of the most infuriating rabbit holes I've run down recently).
But basic plans, are basic plans, are basic plans - and the cost is nearly doubles simply by wanting to have that basic package actually displayed on 2 TVs.
Still - the price for connivence - I mean they know how to price stuff.
Dexter was good, Penny Dreadful is decent. Other than that, I can't think of a reason to watch Showtime. They only stream SD to computers, but their HD is available on iPhone/iPad/AppleTV/Set-Top Boxes.... I'm too disappointed in showtime to even care that it's coming.
Hardware is great, but this just empowers ISPs to start implementing the infamous tiered data subscription model that wireless has. The more you watch, the more they make. It's just a shell game at that point.
Until you realise that you don't need all those channels you think you "want and/or need".
You only think you need and/or want them because that is what years of cable TV have done to your brain, with the cable companies making you believe that cable TV was a utility like electricity and water and gas that you must hook up right away when you move into a new apartment, and that all these channels they threw at you were "essential" (the ironic thing is that Internet service is and should be a utility, and now that it's being treated as such, they don't want that. Oh well, tough **** cable co's.)
I haven't had cable since May 2009. I don't miss it. Not one bit. I was paying for something I was almost never using. I subscribe to Netflix, and watch programming through it, iTunes movie and TV show sales and rentals, and Amazon Prime streaming to my AppleTV via AirPlay. Between all of that and YouTube, with an antenna receiving the broadcast networks for FREE. WTF do I need cable for? I don't (and neither do you!) News you say? BBC World and France 24 English give you all the world news and current events you need, and are far superior to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC News (they all suck in comparison). France24 streams live via AirPlay or on YouTube. Oh yes, and do more reading of news online through the New York Times, or whatever newspaper you choose.
Do you really need garbage like "Real Housewives" or "Bizarre Foods" all day marathons? I mean you really want to pay money for that kind of crap?
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these streaming services are paning out to cost more then cable subscription... and i still have to pay for my internet connection on top geese i don't think so put some adds in or something ... mark my words bandwidth overages with ISP's will be the next hurdle they already covered their buts for this with legislature in the recent few years they will make up for the lost cable subscriptions and as i see it now it will end up cost more then Cable TV in the long run sad but true so far
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Thank you. While I've certainly taken beatings for posting those beliefs around here, it is playing out generally as I expected (though I was certainly surprised HBO NOW rolled out at only $15/month). I'm nothing special. I just think it through beyond the "what's in it for me" dream. Once you think about the business math of it all, how it's playing out is the only way it can play out.
All Apple really controls is the little box. They can't even feed the little box content from iCloud without a heavy dependency on broadband pipes generally controlled by the cable companies. If I'm the cable companies, why do I just roll over and let Apple have my cableTV revenues? I don't. So I will get mine no matter what. Looking through each link in the chain, who else voluntarily takes the hit so that Apple can pile in on top AND we can get some huge discount? Nobody wants to do that. Even Apple prefers something like their 30% of $80/month vs. 30% of $8.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I suggest you take advantage of your FAVs feature in your on-screen guide to hide all those channels you don't want to watch. That will leave you with the channels you actually do want to watch while allowing all that OPM generated by commercials running on all of those other, now-hidden channels to keep subsidizing the cost of the channels you do want. It's the best way to approximate the al-a-carte dream without having to pay more than the cost of cable or satt now. It also means retaining the ability to see the latest new episodes in real-time, getting generally higher quality video & sound vs. streamed (compression), being able to watch live sports on channels other than OTR networks and so on (without it counting against a broadband cap). All considered, I think it's the best way for many of us to realize something comparable to the dream without having to pay more and/or make sacrifices.
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I want A La Carte as much as anyone but I agree. At these prices by the time you're 6 channels subscribed you're looking at subscription cable/satellite prices.
Ugh. That is the WORST part of DirecTV. I don't know why they insist on aggravating and insulting customers intelligence by not only forcing them to call to cancel but also to then subjecting them to an interrogation to the nth degree on why you are canceling. When I canceled Showtime after House of Lies ended I was asked what kind of shows I liked to watch -- I curtly told the CSR DirecTV picks all the metadata off my DVR so they have plenty of my info.
If it wasn't for the NFL I'd hack my dish off faster than Anne Boleyn's executioner could.
I'm a bit mixed on a la carte though. I suspect its going to kill off or further dumb down a lot of good, but low viewer, channels like History. Truth is ESPN is the bulk of everyone's cable/Sat bill. But it has market power like no other channel. The other major cost component is the racketeering-like monthly equipment fees where customers end up paying 10x+ "renting" a box. Hopefully this is the area where AppleTV will make the most impact and force cable/sat companies to at least allow customers to buy their box at normal retail and be done with it.
Exactly. So are HBO and Showtime subscriptions going to be in addition to Apple's skinnied down cable package?
Brighthouse in Central Florida charges $20 for HBO and $18 for Showtime, so yes, these prices are much better.
HBO is easily worth $15 a month as a standalone service.
Showtime? I don't think so. I can only think of one decent show on that channel, and their movie selection is abysmal.
As someone already pointed out, there's little point in paying a la carte for a bunch of channels if the total cost ends up being as much or more than a cable package. Fortunately, the vast majority of cable channels offer nothing but rubbish, so no one with any taste will even be tempted to do so.
Showtime? I don't think so. I can only think of one decent show on that channel, and their movie selection is abysmal.
As someone already pointed out, there's little point in paying a la carte for a bunch of channels if the total cost ends up being as much or more than a cable package. Fortunately, the vast majority of cable channels offer nothing but rubbish, so no one with any taste will even be tempted to do so.
But will you get the same experience? I can see the benefit of Apple's TV service being that you get the channels you want from cable but on demand and seamlessly integrated with a great user experience on all your devices. And if the Apple TV becomes the hub for your tv streaming service, music streaming service, gaming, and connected home experience (HomeKit) as expected to be revealed at WWDC, then I'd actually pay more than what I currently do with the clunky cable boxes and disconnected experience to access all sorts of media.
And once you have a single box that can do everything, you no longer need to switch inputs. Everything becomes much simpler and user friendly. Airplay becomes something you can always rely on working without having to switch from one input to another. I can set up all sorts of home media centers but the bottom line is if it's to complicated for my wife and family to use they won't be happy. I'm hoping Apple delivers.
All this apple TV channels are for US only right? What about Europe? Countries like where i live, Portugal? We only have a few and not interrested channel to see!! When are those channels comming here?