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Apple TV gains ‘NatGeo TV’ channel from National Geographic & Nat Geo Wild

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In addition to the Apple Events channel for viewing the WWDC keynote returning last night, Apple TV has added a NatGeo TV station from the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild channel. Apple’s latest channel includes next day full episodes of shows and documentaries covering science, history, culture, and more.

The new NatGeo TV channel on Apple TV includes clips you can watch for free, but the app does require signing in with an active cable subscription to unlock the full experience including viewing full episodes the day after they air.

The new channel is organized by sections including Featured, Shows, Categories, and Settings. Categories are numerous and include sections like Adventure, Animals, History, People, Science, Technology, Travel, and more. Even without a cable subscription, Apple TV users can view digital exclusives and more content for free. The new channel looks to be on par with the NatGeo TV app released for iPhone and iPad last fall.

The new channel should appear automatically after some time, or you can restart your Apple TV from the Settings channel to manually refresh and add it. If you decide you want to “remove” the channel, catch up on your How-To tutorial for rearranging and personalizing your Apple TV channels.

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Comments

  1. Michel - 9 years ago

    As usual USA only, come on Apple bring more to other countries outside USA.

  2. mesquitemonkey - 9 years ago

    i HATE this ‘tied to cable subscription’ thing! What’s the point? I cut the stupid cable TV because the crap to decent content ratio relative to the cost was so bad – I’d rather do without and just use the HD antenna for whatever local I can get. So all these ‘channels’ that Apple is adding to the Apple TV but you still have to have a cable TV subscription are a waste of time and money, IMO.

    • Roku, Fire TV and Chromecast work with the same model for those channels…so it isn’t just Apple and Apple TV

    • cseeman - 9 years ago

      There’s a lot of rumors that Apple will be debuting their own service for cord cutters. It will likely be a subscription. Keep in mind the channel operators want their money as they would get from cable operators.

      In the meantime, after cutting the cord, you could get Hulu Plus for current shows and Netflix for older shows and you’d get most popular shows. You can throw in a subscription to HBO which no longer requires cable.

      Apple is also working out providing local channels. Keep in mind this all going to still cost you money although you might have some a la carte flexibility.

    • jimr450 - 9 years ago

      I’m with you. I cut cable a few months ago for the same reason, terrible horrible awful product for the money. I’m in LOVE with HBO NOW though and you should get on that. For $15/month, you get a TON of content, anytime you want, including previous episoides. Their TV series’ are amazing, there’s lots of great shows, and lots of movies as well. For $15/month it’s a FAR better value on it’s own than cable TV ever was with or without HBO.

      As far as other cable channels, remember, it’s not Apple’s fault, it’s the mess that is the cable TV industry in general. Apple would love to provide us with al la carte on-demand cable channels via the internet, and I’m sure they are working on it, but it’s not an easy egg to crack. Steve Jobs once said it was the most difficult consumer problem there is to solve. He gave a good breakdown of that at an All Things D interview once I believe.

      Anyway, it’ll happen some day, but Comcast will still find a way to rape us hard regardless.

      • mesquitemonkey - 9 years ago

        oh, I know is not Apple’s fault. I don’t mind paying for a service, but the offering by cable co is just not worth it for me. I sure hope Apple is able to get some of these providers on board and be able to offer a decent service that is more consumer customer friendly. Is just disappointing to see channels come online that I would like but I can’t really use or enjoy. Maybe there is enough on the NatGeo channel without a cable tie-in that will make it worthwhile for me.

  3. Darren Heaton - 9 years ago

    Apple TV customers in England are sick and tried of having a second rate service .
    Give us the service we deserve

  4. cseeman - 9 years ago

    I do wish Apple made it obvious which channels require a Cable Subscription. Perhaps they can add a small embedded icon. Cord cutters, or those thinking of such, may want to know this information.

    Additionally one hopes when Apple debuts their “cable equivalent” subscription service that such channels will be included.

  5. prius3 - 9 years ago

    I haven’t checked yet, but likely the channel is not available in Germany either. (not to mention the lack of a lot of channels in other countries like Italy – which essentially make the Apple TV useless for channel content and only good to stream whatever you have on your Mac).

    Fact is that channels need money to produce content, except Youtube and TED and few others showing private made content.

    But, either channels start showing ads relevant to your country, or they cannot survive and make content.
    And most of the channels available in the US, and those in Germany too, often require a monthly fee. *Each* one of them.

    That said, if Apple offered a *worldwide* paid service that gives you access to *all* the content they are getting from providers, without ads and geographic limitation, that would be a revolution. Which I am pretty sure content providers don’t want. Like the anachronistic region settings on Blu-ray players (totally useless).

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.