Is it? Couldn't it be argued that Tim Cook doesn't have the vision/presentation/persuasion skills that Steve Jobs had which is key making the distortion field so he could lure TV content providers as we saw with Music/iPod/iTunes? If so it may not be content owner's fault entirely, I'd say Apple isn't pulling the same magical leadership they pulled with Music.
Indeed, things are different.
Steve was a pimp.
But the problem with the music industry was that it was in a terrible ordeal when iPod came out. Piracy was rampant and super easy with things like Napster and LimeWire....the TV/Movie industry was different because their copy protection was pretty well in place with DVD (even VHS had copy protection) and it wasn't as easy to get movies/tv as it was to get music (remember, early 2000's).
Now the playing field is a little different. The Music industry seems to be in a better shape and movies/tv "need" help because of piracy and non payers. Netflix is refining what TV means. HBO, ShowTime and many others have unbundled services on Apple TV, it's a matter of time Sports and other things come along. Isn't QVC on Apple TV already?
I think things will shift. The cable/satellite companies will lose in the end because customers always dictate the platform.
If companies like Comcast can figure out a way to do a service through Apple TV, that would be revolutionary. You can indefinitely cut the cord. The problem is, Comcast and all these cable companies are supremely outdated, but so was the phone industry until Cingular(AT&T) took a chance on Apple, like you said, due to Steve's leadership skills.
I think Apple at this point is such a behemoth that the content providers will flock to them and not vice versa.