Vevo Music Video Channel Coming to Apple TV as Soon as This Week

[barkomatic]

I hope this trend continues toward ala carte programming. I'll happily pay for only the content I want--and not the stuff I don't want on a cable subscription.

 

[TXCherokee]

First the good news....

.....

I hope this trend continues toward ala carte programming. I'll happily pay for only the content I want--and not the stuff I don't want on a cable subscription.

Now the bad news....
When this fully catches on (which I hope it does), the cable providers/ISPs will start charging by the GB, like most do now with celluar data, to make up the lost revenue.

 

[santaliqueur]

What if you want all the apps still on there??

They are still there, you just remove them from being seen. Interestingly enough, you can remove the default Music app, but not the Movies or TV Shows. I have no use for any of them (I stream from my iMac using the Computers app), so I hope they allow the Movies and TV Shows apps to be removed soon.

 

[FirstNTenderbit]

I'm not sure I like it.

Don't get me wrong, I love that additional content is becoming available for the AppleTV. My only issue is that the content is becoming very fragmented. If I want to look for a given video/programme, I need to open an app & search, if nothing found open the next content app, search, then the next.

Compare and contrast with (say) my cable box where I can view all the channels together on one EPG. If I do a search, it searches all scheduled programmes on all channels, plus content available in the On Demand service.

I really don't want to have several different video apps all with separate searches and UIs. What I'd love to see is all the content in one place (and yes, I know it's not very likely.. every service/content provider wants exclusivity which is great for them and not so good for the end-user.)

Your comment brings up an interesting point. I think Apple may have thought of how to address that issue with their acquisition of Matcha. Content discovery may become similar to the XBOX360 search feature: Look for video X and all the services that have that video are presented. Then you chose your app and go.

More content can crowd the ATV, but if Apple addresses discovery first (Matcha) then the problem may not be a problem at all.

 

[Plutonius]

Hmm, Apple is terrible because they ask for 30% but Google who asks for 50% is good because they give stuff away for free ?

 

[whooleytoo]

Your comment brings up an interesting point. I think Apple may have thought of how to address that issue with their acquisition of Matcha. Content discovery may become similar to the XBOX360 search feature: Look for video X and all the services that have that video are presented. Then you chose your app and go.

More content can crowd the ATV, but if Apple addresses discovery first (Matcha) then the problem may not be a problem at all.

That would be interesting.

Lots of on-demand content would be a big step forward, but IMO having to deal with lots of different UIs and searches make content discovery a bit of a chore. If Apple are tackling it - as you say above - that would make it far more appealing to me.

 

[barkomatic]

.....

Now the bad news....
When this fully catches on (which I hope it does), the cable providers/ISPs will start charging by the GB, like most do now with celluar data, to make up the lost revenue.

I guess that could still happen, but they've already tried home internet caps in some markets but its not catching on. It turns out that people don't want caps on their home internet connections (surprise, surprise).

I have no doubt that cable companies are going to do their best to protect their lucrative business model. However, pressures from companies like Netflix are starting to encourage content providers to entertain the idea that they might be better off in the long run selling their content/channels directly rather than negotiate with Time Warner or Comcast. Despite the fact that HBO has said they won't offer a stand alone Apple TV app -- I think that is largely to appease their cable partners for now. A stand alone HBO app is inevitable--and already exists in Sweden for $12.50 a month. The question is, how much will it be in the U.S.? I'd say anywhere from $15 - $25 a month.

 

[Silvereel]

Now, all we need is an Aereo app...

 

[asthamapheo]

phew... had been missing this, apple should offer the best things if it want it's set-top-box to sell at this expensive price.

 

[donutbagel]

Correct. Microsoft figured it out with the Xbox One - there is no way to cater for every network, every cable box, every sat box, etc. A simply HDMI in, with an IR passthrough is the only way anyone can integrate into your existing TV service.

I was talking about antenna TV. It's the same everywhere in a given country.

 

[TXCherokee]

I guess that could still happen, but they've already tried home internet caps in some markets but its not catching on. It turns out that people don't want caps on their home internet connections (surprise, surprise).

I have no doubt that cable companies are going to do their best to protect their lucrative business model. However, pressures from companies like Netflix are starting to encourage content providers to entertain the idea that they might be better off in the long run selling their content/channels directly rather than negotiate with Time Warner or Comcast. Despite the fact that HBO has said they won't offer a stand alone Apple TV app -- I think that is largely to appease their cable partners for now. A stand alone HBO app is inevitable--and already exists in Sweden for $12.50 a month. The question is, how much will it be in the U.S.? I'd say anywhere from $15 - $25 a month.

You are correct, and I doubt it'll ever 'catch on'. My point is that after the tide turns, after a certain percentage of people no longer have cable subscriptions and the providers can no longer hold back a la carte programming, they will charge for data in the home. It'll be slightly cheaper than cable at first, but once critical mass has been reached (like it has with smartphones and their relatively high data useage) then 'unlimited' data to the home will phase out.

Of course, this is just speculation and conjecture on my part mixed with a little common sense, and could be completely wrong.

 

[rmwebs]

I was talking about antenna TV. It's the same everywhere in a given country.

No its not. You have the same 'plug' sure, but you've got different receiver technologies that need different components. For example a few of them are:

DVB-T
DVB-T2
ATSC
ATSC 2.0
ISDB-T
ISDB-T International
DTMB
T-DMB

Each of these needs its own hardware to decode the signal. There is no one 'master' option.

This is what people really don't get, and they don't see why nobody has made one set top box or tv that works everywhere - it cant be done. Not unless you want the box to be about a meter square in size.

 

[ctyrider]

They are still there, you just remove them from being seen. Interestingly enough, you can remove the default Music app, but not the Movies or TV Shows. I have no use for any of them (I stream from my iMac using the Computers app), so I hope they allow the Movies and TV Shows apps to be removed soon.

Um, they do. Just set "Purchases and Rentals" to hide in Parental Controls.

 

[MorphMan]

Each of these needs its own hardware to decode the signal. There is no one 'master' option.

This is what people really don't get, and they don't see why nobody has made one set top box or tv that works everywhere - it cant be done. Not unless you want the box to be about a meter square in size.

He did say they are the same for a given country.

A USB add on would be an obvious choice, you can already get tuners the size of USB drives so it wouldn't be too hard. The issue is that if you give people TV then they want storage and pvr. The other issue is that iTunes sells TV shows soon after they air and ultimately I'm sure iTunes still makes apple a hell of a lot more than the Apple TV hardware.

Being able to once again rent tv shows from iTunes either as single items or packages (ie, fifty upto 24 hour rentals of any 1 hour episodes for $xx. ) is probably more likely than TV tuners.